Kootenay wins series opener 5-2

Sam Reinhart and Zack Franco both scored twice as the Kootenay Ice drew first blood in their opening round best-of-seven playoff series with the Calgary Hitmen.

Greg Chase opened the scoring for Calgary, who was 36-5-0-2 when scoring first in the regular season, but the Ice responded with five unanswered goals en-route to victory.

The Hitmen fell into penalty problems and found themselves down a man seven times in the game which led to three Kootenay powerplay goals.

                                           Photo Credit:  Brad Watson - Hitmen

Kootenay Ice 5 at Calgary Hitmen 2
Thursday, March 20, 2014 - Scotiabank Saddledome - Calgary, AB

Kootenay 1 2 2 - 5
Calgary 1 0 1 - 2

1st Period
1, Calgary, Chase 1 (Winther, Tambellini), 4:06.
2, Kootenay, Reinhart 1 (Philp, Descheneau), 10:28 (PP).
Penalties-Brassart Cal (boarding), 5:12; Brassart Cal (hooking), 8:24; Harmsworth Cal (hooking), 9:22.

2nd Period
3, Kootenay, Philp 1 (Reinhart, Dirk), 4:52 (PP).
4, Kootenay, Franko 1 (Dirk, Descheneau), 17:01.
Penalties-Lang Cal (inter. on goaltender), 4:18; Padakin Cal (high sticking), 6:36; Steenbergen Ktn (roughing), 10:51; Brassart Cal (roughing), 10:51.

3rd Period
5, Kootenay, Reinhart 2 (Valiev), 8:21.
6, Kootenay, Franko 2 (Vetterl, Valiev), 16:17 (PP).
7, Calgary, Brassart 1 (Virtanen, Thomas), 19:00 (SH).
Penalties-Dirk Ktn (hooking), 4:51; Rissling Cal (roughing), 14:25; Descheneau Ktn (cross checking), 15:41; Sanheim Cal (cross checking), 15:41; Penner Cal (major-cross checking, game misconduct), 16:45; Martin Ktn (10-minute misconduct), 17:14; Philp Ktn (slashing), 17:14; Reinhart Ktn (10-minute misconduct), 17:14; Lang Cal (10-minute misconduct), 17:14; Padakin Cal (inter. on goaltender), 17:14; Rissling Cal (10-minute misconduct), 17:14; Brassart Cal (10-minute misconduct), 19:03; Dirk Ktn (major-fighting), 20:00; Harmsworth Cal (major-fighting), 20:00; Mahon Cal (game misconduct), 20:00.

Shots on Goal
Kootenay 12-14-9-35. Calgary 5-13-11-29.

Power Play Opportunities
Kootenay 3 / 7; Calgary 0 / 1.

Goalies
Kootenay, Skapski 1-1-0-0 (29 shots-27 saves). Calgary, Driedger 1-1-0-0 (35 shots-30 saves).

A-6,649

Referees-Fraser Lawrence (10), Steve Papp (17).
Linesmen-Reid Anderson (53), Justin Slimm (105).