The North Okanagan Knights stayed undefeated in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League postseason with a 5-3 win over the Princeton Posse Friday night.
Knights goalie Josh Hager stood on his head to lift his team to a 2-0 second-round series lead as the Posse doubled the Knights’ shots 40-20.
Special teams were a large factor in the game as the Knights went two for four on the powerplay and Princeton went two for five. Both teams also scored a shorthanded goal.
The Knights got goals from five different skaters, the first from Cash Anderson, who scored his second of the playoffs shorthanded just over three minutes into the game.
Roughly a minute later, Gage Parrell scored his fifth of the postseason to give the Knights a 2-0 advantage.
Two powerplay goals were scored in the last two minutes of the first period, the first by Posse forward Vinay Junek and the second by Knights skater Colton Fleming.
Midway through the second, Nolan Kelly scored his league-leading seventh goal of the playoffs on the powerplay to make it 4-1 Knights.
Princeton fought back in the second half of the period, getting a powerplay goal from Matthew Langdon and a shorthanded goal from Jalen McRae. The two goals came about a minute apart to make it a 4-3 hockey game.
The Posse put 16 shots on net in the third period in an effort to tie the game, but Hager had the answers and Devin Jameson had the empty net goal with eight seconds remaining on the game clock to secure the win.
The Knights have now won all six of their playoff games so far, having swept the Osoyoos Coyotes in the first round.
Game 3 of the best-of-seven series goes Monday, March 11, at 7:15 p.m. at Armstrong’s Nor-Val Centre.
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