Kearns' 2 goals lift Storm to win

11/6/2005

Toledo trailed for the majority of last night's game with Victoria but rallied to catch the Salmon Kings in the third period and land a 5-3 triumph.

The Storm tallied three unanswered goals in the final period before 4,251 spectators at the Sports Arena. Toledo (4-2-1) had 13 power plays to the Salmon Kings' six, but still found itself behind until Bracken Kearns netted his second goal.

With the score even at 3, Kearns recovered a rebound off his shot and knocked it past Victoria goaltender Rob Muntain for the game-winner at the 7:16 mark.

"We're a pretty confident bunch," Kearns said. "Even if we're down by a few goals, we never panic."

Just three minutes earlier, center Jeff Attard knotted things with a power-play goal. Attard collected a rebound off a shot by Todd Jackson and slid it past Muntain.

"It's nice to know that we can turn it up a bit when we have to," said Storm coach Nick Vitucci. "We do have resiliency. But it's unfortunate that we put ourselves in these situations."

Captain P.J. Martin iced it with 6:07 left on a powerful slap shot with two Kings in the box.

Both teams scored three power play goals and Toledo tallied two at even strength. The Storm was 2-of-4 with the 5-on-3 advantage.

"Obviously we want to score on all of those," Vitucci said. "Our execution wasn't great tonight."

Victoria (2-5-0) scored two goals on its first five shots.

It took the Salmon Kings just five seconds to score on their first power play. Steve Lingren scored directly off a faceoff draw to make it 1-0.

Storm goalie Chad Collins (2-1-1) certainly wished he had Victoria's second goal back. Mike Henderson's seemingly harmless wrister deflected off Collins' glove and into the net for a 2-0 Victoria advantage.

Toledo got things going just 24 seconds into the second period. Left winger Ken Magowan scored his ECHL-leading seventh goal of the season with the Storm enjoying a two-man advantage. Magowan's shot from the slot beat Muntain to make it 2-1.

Toledo pulled even on a wacky bounce off the dasher board behind the Victoria net. Gerry Burke's initial shot went wide, but the puck bounced right out front to Kearns.

"I feel like I've been snake-bit so it felt good to get a few bounces go my way," Kearns said, adding the win should give the team needed momentum.