Islanders on the brink of playoff elimination
The Kerry Park Islanders are on the ropes in their best-of-seven Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League playoff series against the Nanaimo Buccaneers.
The Islanders fell behind 3-0 in the series heading into Tuesday night's fourth game at Kerry Park Arena after losing 4-2 to the Buccaneers at home Saturday.
Corey Peterson's goal with 6:56 remaining brought the Islanders to within a goal, but Garrett Dunlop iced it for the Buccaneers with an empty-netter. Trevor Parkhouse had the other Islanders' goal on a first-period power play.
"We're getting better each game,'' said Islanders' goalie Jackson Jane. "Last game our third period was really good.''
The Islanders were shut out 4-0 in game two at Nanaimo Thursday. The Buccaneers scored all but one of their goals with the man advantage, going three-for-five on the power play.
The series began with a 5-1 Nanaimo victory last Tuesday.
"We've only scored three goals all series,'' said Jane. "We haven't played bad. We just haven't found the back of the net. They just play a really tight defensive game.''
The Islanders have been without scoring ace Alex Milligan for the entire series. He was picked up by the Valencia Flyers, a Junior A team in California playing in the Western States Hockey League
It's been a busy stretch of games for the Islanders. They played four in four days at the end of the regular season, including an overtime wild-card win over Campbell River to qualify for the playoffs.
After three playoff games in five days, the team is showing signs of wear and tear.
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