The Elmira Sugar kings got off to a rough start in the second-round playoff series against the KW Siskins, losing game one on Sunday 6-1. By Tuesday night at the WMC, they found their scoring mojo, besting the visitors 7-4 and drawing the series even at 1-1.
On the road in Waterloo Sunday to get things rolling, the Kings looked like they were facing the team that finished atop the Midwestern Conference standing in the regular season.
The Siskins scored the lone goals of the first and second periods to take a 2-0 lead into the second intermission. A three-goal outburst in the first three minutes of the final frame quickly expelled any hope of an Elmira comeback.
The hosts were up 6-0 by the time the period was eight minutes old. The Kings finally got on the board at 15:56 when Madden MacDougall ended the shutout bid, assisted by Jackson Heron and Austin Mumby.
Elmira was outshot 30-19, going 0-6 on the power play while Waterloo was 1-1. Goaltender Daniel Botelho went the distance for the Kings.
It was a different story Tuesday night as game two saw the action return to Elmira.
Where the Kings couldn’t buy a goal in the first game, they lit the lamp repeatedly, including four on the power play.
The Siskins were on the board first, scoring at 7:26 of the opening period, but Brock Reinhart’s power-play goal 12 minutes in tied the score at 1-1. Assists went Liam Eveleigh and Luke Della Croce. Less than three minutes later, however, it was 2-1 for the visitors. A power-play goal by Logan Crans – from Jayden Lammel and Eveleigh – with 53 seconds left in the frame sent the teams back to their rooms knotted at 2-2.
When play resumed, the Kings needed just 34 seconds to take the lead for the first time. It was another power-play goal, this one from captain Adam Grein (Lammel, Reinhart). The lead grew to 4-2 when Reinhart struck again at 6:15 with the Kings enjoying a man advantage. He got help from Eveleigh and Della Croce.
Just over a minute later it was 4-3, but MacDougall replied at 12:00, assisted by Grein and Eveleigh. The two-goal lead was halved before the period ended, however. It was 5-4 after 40 minutes.
Fans had to wait 15 minutes into the third before enjoying a little breathing room watching their team defend a one-goal lead. Lammel scored unassisted at 15:02, capping the game with another unassisted goal just over three minutes later. It was 7-4 when the buzzer sounded.
Shots were 32-24 in favour of the Kings, who went 4-8 on the power play. The Siskins were 1-6. Special teams were clearly a big factor as Elmira evened the series.
Netminder Hayden Sabourin chalked up the win, outlasting his cross-ice counterpart Nicholas Galda.
Game three of the series went Wednesday night, though results weren’t known before press time. Game four goes Friday night at the WMC (7 p.m.), with the action back in Waterloo Sunday afternoon (1:30 p.m.) for game five. Game six is in Elmira March 28 (7 p.m.), while game seven is scheduled for March 30.
