Photo Credit: Matt Piotrowski Photography
Written by: Rory McGouran
The Bandits returned home to the Centennial Regional Arena to defeat the Trail Smoke Eaters 6-2 on Wednesday night, stretching their winning streak to three games.
Sparked by an explosive first period with four goals in a 5:03 span, the buffer zone was built for the Bandits to lock down defensively the rest of the way and provide the weekday fans a celebratory exit. Dmitrijs Dilevka opened the scoring at 6:03 into the game with his sixth of the season. Alexander Monarque picked up his fifth while extending to a seven-game point streak. Koby Francis scored his sixth of the year 1:11 later, and Christophe Lussier culminated the four consecutive goals just 16 seconds after Francis to give the Bandits a 4-0 lead just 11:06 into the opening frame. Lussier now has five goals in his last three games.
The Smoke eaters closed the first period, and opened the second with goals from Colton Whitfield and Jaden Sikura, for a moment nuzzling into the Bandits healthy lead. However, Tommy Holtby tipped in an Isaac Suh point shot for a 5-2 lead, and Alexei Zhukov pushed all comeback bids at bay in the third period. For Suh, it was his second assist in as many games after starting the season on the Injured Reserve List. Meanwhile, Zhukov returned to the lineup from a one-game absence and extended his goal-scoring streak to four games.
Joseph Quintilio got his second career start as a Bandit, picking up his first career win, stopping 27 of 29 shots faced.
The Bandits scored a powerplay goal for the seventh straight game finishing the night 1/3, while their penalty kill was 100% stopping all three attempts.
The homestand will continue with back-to-back games at the CRA starting on Saturday, November 7th against the Sherwood Park Crusaders. Puck drop is scheduled for 7:00pm.
