It's simple for the Kings tonight: win and you live to play another day. Powell River has struggled with consistency and that will be the key in tonight's contest.
TEAM PULSE
Kings- Powell River will have to empty the tank tonight, so to speak. The Kings will look to put in a full sixty minutes against a much improved Victoria Grizzlies squad. The Kings have had their moments throughout the series, but have yet to string it together for three full periods.
The team has to know by now that this hasn't been the team we saw through the regular season and don't want their season to end this early in the BCHL post season. The older, experienced players will have to be better in their roles.
Matt Garbowsky has yet to register a point in this series in the three games he has played. Garbowsky showed signs of getting back to where he was in the regular season in games three and four. Chad Niddery has stepped up, but will have to elevate his game even more tonight. That dynamic duo will need a break out performance tonight, as their counterparts have been stealing the thunder.
Another area that will need to improve is the Kings penalty-kill. The Grizz' burned the Kings for four power-plays goals on seven opportunities Saturday. At one point Victoria scored four straight power-play goals. The Kings were the top PK team in the regular season and will need to get back to that standard from here on out.
Grizzlies- Victoria has confidence and momentum heading into game five in Powell River. The Grizzlies have won three straight, the only team that can say they have done that against the Kings. They have gotten big minutes and points from their top line and their power-play has been red hot.
David Morley, Dustin Johnson and Joel Lowry have recorded 16 points in four games against the Kings. Morely put up five points on Saturday in the 5-2 win. Johnson, as an AP, has recorded at least a point in three of the four games played this series. It isn't just their top line putting up numbers.
Taylor Pernerowski and Justin Fillion have been contributing from the blue line, especially on the power-play. Fillion scored once and finished with four points in game 4 against the Kings. He now has 11 points in nine playoff games. The Kings will need to take time and space away from those two.
Finally, Matt Ginn has settled into a nice rhythm for the Grizzlies. He stopped 61 of 64 shots in the two games down in the provincial capital. Ginn has dropped his goals against down to 2.53 and his save percentage has climbed to 92.56. The Kings believe they haven't generated enough shots, even though they have out shot Victoria 155-122. The key tonight will be getting plenty of traffic in front of the Victoria net.
WHO'S HOT- As mentioned, the top line for the Grizz are playing very well. In the post season Morley, Lowry and Johnson have combined for 35 points in a total of 22 games. Morley is coming off a five point night and Fillion had four points in game four. Niddery picked up an assist in game four and has five points in the series. Craig Dalrymple has quietly gone about notching three points (1-2-3) in four games.
STAT PACK: The Kings have had the lead for 111 of the 270 minutes in the series. That works out to be 41 percent. The Kings are more comfortable playing with a lead, as they were 35-0-2-0 when leading after two periods in the regular season.
PUCK DROP: Game time is 7pm with the pre game show starting at 6:45. Tune in for a special guest in the first or second intermission.
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