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Hurricanes save their best for last in win over Ice

Feb 12, 2018 | 3:32 PM

CRANBROOK – An afternoon matchup between the Lethbridge Hurricanes and the Kootenay Ice started off as a defensive affair but ended as a 5-2 victory for the Hurricanes on Family Day in British Columbia.

A spirited first period between both teams didn’t result in much in terms of goals, but there were a handful of quality chances for both teams.

The best chance of the period for the Hurricanes was a bang-bang play at the net where Egor Zudilov just fired it wide.

Late in the first, Zane Franklin drew the first powerplay of the afternoon when Ice forward Colton Veloso got the book for boarding.

Shots finished at 10-6 in favour of the Hurricanes after a period of play.

The Hurricanes couldn’t convert on the early period powerplay in the second, and the game remained scoreless.

Logan Flodell made his best save of the game against Veloso eight minutes into the second, and moments later Veloso took his second minor penalty of the game.

On the ensuing powerplay, Lethbridge had a number of chances but couldn’t beat rookie Ice goaltender Duncan McGovern.

Kootenay would get their first powerplay chance of the hockey game at 10:34 of the second when Jake Elmer was called for slashing.

The Hurricanes killed it off and turned back to the attack where Dylan Cozens nearly got the Hurricanes on the board and in the process drew another powerplay for Lethbridge at 13:23.

The Ice remained perfect on the penalty kill, and after killing off the penalty came down the ice three on one where Logan Flodell made another huge stop to keep the game scoreless.

It wouldn’t be scoreless for long, as Koletrane Wilson finally opened the scoring with at 16:19 giving the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead.

Then Dylan Cozens, who returned to the Hurricanes lineup after missing nine games due to an injury, took a double-minor for high sticking and the Ice went to work.

Former Hurricane Alec Baer buried his 24th of the season on the powerplay to tie things up at 1-1 and that’s how the second period would end.

After two periods of play, shots remained in the Hurricanes favour at 26-24.

Just seconds into the third period, Igor Merezhko took a cross checking penalty that sent the Ice back to the powerplay.

Kootenay made it count, as Colton Veloso knocked home his 19th of the season at 1:27 following a net mouth scramble to give the Ice a 2-1 lead.

After the Ice had successfully killed off another Hurricanes powerplay, Brad Morrison picked up a loose puck and beat McGovern for his 19th goal of the year to knot the game up at 2-2.

With under five minutes to play in the third period, the Hurricanes displayed some late game magic.

At 15:22, Brad Morrison scored his 20th of the season and less than 20 seconds later Jake Elmer buried his 15th to give the Hurricanes a 4-2 lead.

Jordy Bellerive would add an empty netter, his 38th of the season, to make the score 5-2 which is how the game would finish.

Morrison and Bellerive each had three points to lead the Hurricanes, while Flodell made 26 saves for his 32nd win of the season.

With the win, the Hurricanes are sitting at 58 points with a record of 26-23-6.

Now the Hurricanes face a quick turnaround, as they’ll return to Lethbridge to host the Tri City Americans on Tuesday, Feb. 13.