Game Day | TRA at SA

It’s not do or die for the Trail Smoke Eaters tonight in Salmon Arm, but pretty close.

They trail the Silverbacks 2-0 in their best-of-seven BCHL opening round playoff series with the next two games on the road.

The Smokies battled back from a 2-0 deficit early in the second period on Saturday to tie the game with about 29-minutes left in regulation, but neither team could break the tie until about four minutes into overtime when Salmon Arm’s Keifer Miller jammed in a rebound.

Game one didn’t get to overtime but was essentially just as close.

Luke Lepper’s seeing-eye screen shot from the boards through several players in the second period set the stage for an empty net goal in the dying seconds for the Silverbacks 2-0 win in game one.

The Smoke Eaters generated ample scoring opportunities to win both games, but were thwarted by near misses, bouncing pucks and stops by Salmon Arm goalie Daniel Dirrocolo.

Trail’s Cooper Michaluk was sensational in both games, giving his team a chance to win both games.

An additional challenge for the Trail troupe will be the absence of first line winger Zach Coutu.

He left game two in the second period with a lower body injury. The 20-year-old came back for one shift, saying “It’s playoffs, I had to try it”, but that was the end of his evening.

Brayden Sinclair was moved onto Coutu’s line with Cash Carter and Christian Kim, who scored the tying goal on Saturday, finishing a fine two-on-one pass from Carter. Gabe Bugeaud also tallied for Trail on a nifty backhander following a fine two-on-one feed from Otto Hanson.

Another constant throughout the first two games was unpenalized hits and contact absorbed by Michaluk.

It has also been a fast-paced, hard-nosed, tight checking and physical first two games.

Opening face-off from Rogers Rink in Salmon Arm is at 6 p.m. with all the action available on Mixlr and FloHockey.