Isaiah Norlin posted a three-point night but seven penalty kills hurt the West Kelowna Warriors as they dropped a 4-3 overtime decision to the Vernon Vipers on Wednesday night at Royal LePage Place.
Getting the first of his three points in the game, Isaiah Norlin opened the scoring at the 4:11 mark of the 1st frame with his 2nd goal of the season. The puck was freed from the left face-off circle as Norlin collected at the edge of the right dot and wired a wrist shot past the blocker side of Vipers netminder Ethan David and gave West Kelowna a 1-0 lead.
The lead was doubled with Johannes Løkkeberg earning his 4th goal of the season at the 11:52 mark to give home side a 2-0 advantage. After a strong move by Norlin to get the puck to the net, Felix Caron tried to spin a shot from the slot that hit a Viper defender before Løkkeberg found the loose puck and beat David as a power play just began to make it a 2-0 game.
Before the period was out, Vernon got their way back into the game on a pass from Luke Buss to the front of the net where a streaking Julian Facchinelli took the puck on his forehand and finished on his backhand, squeaking a shot through the blocker side of Warriors goaltender Rorke Applebee with just 16 seconds remaining in the period for a 2-1 game into the middle frame.
The teams traded goals in the 2nd period and it was the Warriors who once again jumped ahead by a pair courtesy of their blue line. Norlin made a move to juke around a defender at the right point before sending the puck to the left side as Frédéric Deschênes wristed a shot through traffic and past David for his 2nd goal of the season at the 4:10 mark of the middle period.
On another play late in a period, the Vipers pushed back and part of a period where they put 17 shots on goal, a power play helped them get within a marker. Hank Cleaves threw a pass in front from the left face-off circle that Erik Pastro redirected to the net with his first chance being stopped before the rebound was deposited past Applebee to head to the 3rd period with a one-goal game.
With the net empty and trailing by a goal, the Vipers were able to get the game-tying marker with just 1:24 remaining in the game as Georgios Stavrianeas pudhed the Vipers to even the score. A point shot from Buss was tipped in front from Stavrianeas and Vernon leveled the score at 3-3, forcing overtime.
Norlin had a great chance early in the overtime frame as he walked down the middle of the ice where he rang a shot off the post on the glove side of David before the Vipers came back the other way and won the game seconds later. A pass from Facchinelli across the ice to Connor Elliott was pushed behind the goal where Elliott collected the puck at the side of the net before jamming it past the left side of Applebee for the game-winning marker just 57 seconds into the extra frame.
Rorke Applebee was outstanding in the game for the Warriors, turning aside 34 of the 38 shots thrown his way in his 1st overtime loss of the season while Ethan David made 19 saves on 21 in his 5th win of the season.
FINAL SCORE: 4-3 Vipers (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 38-24 Vipers
WARRIORS PP: 1/3
WARRIORS PK: 6/7
3 STARS:
1) Isaiah Norlin (1-2-3)
2) Brennan Nelson (0-2-2)
3) Connor Elliott (1-0-1)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Frédéric Deschênes
ATTENDANCE: 757
The Warriors (6-2-1-0) will begin a five-game stretch of play away from home and kick that off on Friday night as they take on the Vipers (7-1-0-0) in the second half of the home-and-home set. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM at Kal Tire Place with the game being streamed live on FloHockey as well as broadcasted with a free audio-only stream at mixlr.com/bchlwarriors.