The Trail Smoke Eaters came up just short against the Cranbrook Bucks on Thursday night, falling 4-3 despite outshooting their Kootenay rivals 35-28.
Cranbrook opened the scoring late in the first period when Mitch Patrick converted on the power play at 14:57, giving the Bucks a 1-0 lead.
Matthew Gilmore doubled the advantage early in the second, but Trail responded with two goals in less than a minute. Ty Izadi scored his first of the game at 12:01 before Aleksandr Andriyashev tied it 53 seconds later.
Patrick restored Cranbrook’s lead at 15:40 with his second of the night, sending the Bucks into the third period ahead 3-2.
Cranbrook struck again just 1:51 into the final frame when James Larson made it 4-2.
Izadi pulled Trail back within one at 6:02 with his second goal of the game, assisted by Daniel Rassega and Caden Stoltz, but the Smoke Eaters couldn’t find the equalizer.
Trail goaltender Chayse Johnson stopped 24 of 28 shots, while Cranbrook split the game between Kael Svenson and Keegan Carswell. Carswell earned the win after turning aside 10 of 12 shots.
The Smoke Eaters went scoreless on two power-play opportunities, while Cranbrook finished one-for-two with the man advantage.
