A two-goal effort by Jonathan Desbiens led the West Kelowna Warriors to a 4-1 win over the host Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Monday and helped the team regain the home-ice advantage in their B.C Hockey League Okanagan Division semifinal.
Desbiens, a 44-goal scorer in the regular season, scored the Warriors’ first goal at 16:54 of the first period and closed out the scoring midway through the third as the Warriors took a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven series.
Kyle Marino and Garrett Forster sandwiched goals between Desbiens' with their first of the playoffs in the second period. Colton Thibault was the lone Silverbacks marksman.
Matthew Greenfield earned the win in goal, stopping 35 of 36 Salmon Arm shots, while Angus Redmond took the loss at other end of the rink, giving up the four goals on 31 shots.
The win came on the heels of a 2-1 West Kelowna victory on Saturday, while the Silverbacks opened the series with a 6-5 triumph at Royal LePage Place on Friday.
The fourth game of the series goes on Tuesday, again in Salmon Arm, while the fifth game is set for Friday back in West Kelowna beginning at 7 p.m.
Winner of the series will meet either the first-place Penticton Vees or fourth-place Vernon Vipers in the division final. The Vees lead their semifinal 2-0, with the third game scheduled for Tuesday at Kal Tire Place in Vernon.
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