Panthers extend win streak to three with a 4-2 road win in Nanaimo

Although a rainy night on Vancouver Island, a gritty 4-2 road win by the Peninsula Panthers in Nanaimo against the Buccaneers showed that the young "Cats" might no longer be wet behind the ears.   After struggling to move past the .500 mark in the early going, the Panthers have now reeled off 3 straight wins and have managed to pull themselves into a 3rd place tie in the standings with the Westshore Wolves after the completion of tonight's action in the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League.

The Panthers entered the night's action trailing the Wolves by two points in the standings and as the Club travelled North to Nanaimo to ready themselves for their road contest, the Wolves made the short trip to the Archie Browning to face the Victoria Cougars.  The Wolves were dropped in convincing fashion by the Cougars and this loss, coupled with the Panthers win, left the two Clubs in a dead heat in the standings.  The Panthers have played 2 less games.

In Nanaimo, the Buccaneers opened the scoring with less than two minutes having been played when Lynden Eddy pumped one past Panthers' starter Stephen Heslop.  And they would once again be the team to light the lamp next when Jordan Levesque would hit paydirt at the 13:03 mark of the 1st.  The Panthers went on a Power Play late in the period and Cole Golka would make no mistake bringing the Panthers within a goal with only 36 seconds left, Cole Glover would pick up the lone assist.

The Panthers' Dane Gibson would waste no time in getting the score knotted at 2 when he opened the scoring with only nineteen seconds played in the 2nd period on assists from Josh Adkins and Glover.  And Glover would add a Power Play goal of his own at 7:17 with Adkins and Zack Smith picking up assists.

The two teams exchanged chances in the 3rd frame but it would be talented 18-year-old Gibson who would get the insurance marker beating Riley Medves who was tending goal for the Bucs.  Reece Costain and Connor Logan picked up helpers on the Gibson tally. 

The Buccaneers would pull Medves for the extra attacker but it would not prove to make a difference as the Panthers skated off with a well-deserved road win.  Heslop blocked 28 of 30 shots in picking up the win while Medves took the loss stopping 39 of 43 Panthers shots directed his way.  Gibson and Glover were named the game's 1st and 2nd star while Medves picked up a well-deserved 3rd star for his performance in trying to stop the Panthers onslaught.

The Panthers were without several bodies as slick defenceman Austin Singhera, Captain Patrick Croome and Cody Allison did not make the trip North or were out of the lineup for a variety of reasons.

The Panthers will not have much time to enjoy this win as Friday evening they will host the Campbell River Storm for the front end of a home-and-home weekend series.  The puck will drop at the Panorama Recreation Centre at 7:30 pm.  And the Panthers will play the back end of the two-game weekend series up in Campbell River Sunday afternoon with a 4:00 pm start.