It’s very simple for the Dauphin Kings, win and survive, but lose and their season comes to an end.
After staving off elimination with a thrilling double overtime win on Saturday night, Dauphin will host game six of their first-round series against Swan Valley on Tuesday.
As expected, the series has been one of the best in the first round. Of the five games in the series, five of them have been one-goal decisions and the last two games have both gone to double overtime.
Dmytro Kubrytskyi came in relief of Cole Sheffield on Saturday and he made 15 saves to earn his first playoff win with the Kings.
The Kings have continued to create many scoring chances throughout the series, they just have the challenge of beating Kobe Grant, something that has done quite well at times in the series.
Dauphin will be without their captain as Owen Wareham is out with a lower-body injury which is certainly not good news for a team that is looking to keep their season alive. With that said Dauphin has been resilient in the past and there are never excuses as to why they can’t give it everything they have.
Swan Valley is also banged up as Landon Gulutzan remains out with an upper-body injury. Steven Arp will serve the third and final game of his suspension after a dirty hit on Anthony Bax earlier in the series.
Keys to Success:
- Beat Kobe Grant – after scoring just one goal in the first game of the series, Dauphin has found the back of the net 17 times over the past four games;
- Stop the first line – Justin Keck, Jakob Jones, and Trey Sauder all play roughly 32 minutes per night and they have combined for 18 points so far in the series;
- Stop Jennings – after recording seven points in the first two games of the series, Dauphin has done a solid job of shutting down Jennings, but it won’t be easy moving forward as the 20-year-old dials things up;
- Get a timely goal – Deepkaran Hans scored Dauphin’s biggest goal of the season as he was the hero in double overtime on Saturday and Dauphin will need to come up clutch offensively moving ahead
- Get a timely save – Kubrytskyi made several of them on Saturday and more will have to be made on Tuesday.