In a night of Island debuts, it was a returning homeboy who almost stole the show Friday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Dylan Ferguson of Lantzville, who this season made headlines as an emergency NHL call-up for the Las Vegas Golden Knights, was stalwart in a 40-save performance for the Kamloops Blazers.
But it wasn’t enough as the Victoria Royals recorded a 6-5 Western Hockey League victory before 4,790 fans.
“Ferguson is very athletic and played well and made second- and third-effort saves,” Royals coach Dan Price said.
“I thought we played fast and physical, and that was nice to see.”
The Royals (24-16-4) got off to a fast start with two goals by Dante Hannoun, both set up by Matthew Phillips, in the first two minutes and 32 seconds.
“We started on the get-go by keeping it simple,” Hannoun said.
“[Ferguson] is a good goalie and we need more bodies in front of the net.”
The first Hannoun goal was on the power play and drawing an assist was Tanner Kaspick in his Royals’ debut.
Kaspick, signed to an NHL entry-level contract by the St. Louis Blues, and Lane Zablocki, a third-round draft pick of the Detroit Red Wings, played their first games for Victoria after being acquired Wednesday in big trades.
“It’s an adjustment and a new life experience,” Kaspick said after the game.
He scored his first goal as a Royal in the third period and also looked sharp playing the point on the power play.
“I moved around a lot on the Brandon [Wheat Kings] power play,” he said.
“Here in Victoria, the three guys down low [Hannoun, Phillips and Tyler Soy] are so skilled.”
Zablocki’s debut on Blanshard, however, didn’t last long as he received a game misconduct for a checking-from-behind major penalty at 7:39 of the first period.
The Royals led 9-0 in shots before Jermaine Loewen scored on Kamloops’ first shot of the game at 5:39 of the first period.
Igor Martynov, in his first game back after representing Belarus in the recent world junior championships, restored the two-goal advantage as the Royals closed out one of their most comprehensive opening periods of the season ahead 3-1 and with a 23-4 shots advantage.
But Kamloops (18-21-3), backed by Ferguson, did an artful job of rope-a-dope in tying the game 3-3 against the grain on second-period goals by Orrin Centozzo and Carson Denomie. Ferguson got a helping hand from the crossbar on a Phillips breakaway.
Martynov provided the screen on a drifting point shot by defenceman Mitchell Prowse. And Jeff de Wit, from the side of the net on the power play, made it 5-3 for Victoria early in the third period.
Luc Smith, on the power play, brought it to within one for Kamloops at 12:00.
The goal was assisted by defenceman Nolan Kneen of Duncan, among three Island players dressed for the Blazers, along with Ferguson and blueliner Sean Strange of Saanich.
Kaspick scored an empty-net goal at 19:16 that would be needed. Kamloops ended scoring with a power-play goal by Loewen with 18 seconds remaining.
“It isn’t often the empty-net goal is also the winning goal,” Kaspick said.
Soy recorded an assist to set the franchise record for career assists with 152 in 296 games. That eclipsed the old standard of 151 in 318 games held by Brandon Magee, now in U Sports with the University of Alberta Golden Bears.
Griffen Outhouse made 23 saves in goal for Victoria.
The teams meet again tonight at the Memorial Centre.
