Salmon Arm handed Warriors their third straight loss Friday night

Photo: Wayne Moore

The West Kelowna Warriors offence has all but dried up as they struggle to put wins on the board.

Since having their seven game winning streak snapped, the Warriors have won just twice in seven outings, including a three-game losing skid.

They dropped their third straight on home ice, a 6-2 defeat at the hands of the high flying Salmon Arm Silverbacks.

Over the course of their three game losing streak, the Warriors have been outscored 13-4.

The Warriors got on the board just 90 seconds in when Jayden Price notched his third since being acquired from Wenatchee at the end of October. Price grabbed a loose puck that bounced off a few skates, turned and beat a surprised Owen Say along the ice.

The Silverbacks responded 90 seconds later when Mathieu Cobetto-Roy blasted a shot past a screened Johnny Derrick.

Trailing 2-1 late in the period, Felix Trudeau drilled home his 15th on a one-timer from the right circle on a Warriors power play.

The Silverbacks top line controlled the scoreboard the rest of the way.

The line of Simon Tassy, Noah Serdachny and Mathieu Borgeault accounted for three of the Silverbacks four goals over the final 40 minutes with Tassy, the league's scoring leader leading the way with a goal and two assists over that span.

Despite coming out on the short end of of the score, the Warriors did out shoot Salmon Arm 38-28, and did have a good chunk of the territorial play.

"I thought we played well. I thought we played in their zone for a significant portion of time more than they did," said Warriors head coach Simon Ferguson.

"I thought we played pucks on the net. We scored two goals and probably could have scored a couple more, but they scored on their chances."

Scoring on chances was the difference Friday.

The Warriors had five opportunities on the power play, including a long stretch when the Silverbacks took back-to-back penalties, but while they controlled then puck for much of the time, were unable to generate many good looks except for Trudeau's backdoor one-timer.

But, it seemed every time the Silverbacks got an opportunity, either through the forecheck or with odd-man rushes, the puck found its way in the net.

"They Are taking off behind you and all of a sudden they're gone, and that's what they're good at.

"You play an entire in their zone, and it just seems that's how it goes sometimes. But, I think we've got to get a couple of saves and not have some clean turnovers that we've had."

Despite the skid, the Warriors remain third in the Interior Division behind both the Silverbacks and Penticton Vees, who have pulled seven and six points ahead respectively.

And, with the announcement by the league earlier this week eliminating games between conferences for the rest of the season due to flooding and road closures, the Warriors can expect to see more of their interior rivals the rest of the way.

With Saturday's game with Langley postponed, the Warriors will now travel to Salmon Arm for a return engagement Sunday.

After splitting back-to-back games at the Shaw Centre last month, the Warriors were not scheduled to return for the balance of the regular season, but the change means at least one, maybe more trips to Salmon Arm.