Jedd Soleway had three points as the Penticton Vees cruised to a 5-1 win over the visiting Langley Rivermen at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Saturday.
Soleway, a recent acquisition from the Vernon Vipers, scored his first as a member of the Vees and assisted on goals by Wade Murphy and Louie Nanne. Murphy, Brock Balson and Cody DePourcq scored first-period goals as the Vees (19-7-0-3) won at home for the second time in two nights.
The Vees outskated and outworked the Rivermen (10-12-0-5) and were rewarded at 6:42 of the opening period, as Murphy turned and fired a low shot that beat goaltender James Barr. Balson picked up a loose puck and shovelled it past Barr at 12:48, then DePourcq scored on a wraparound at 14:24. It was his fourth goal of the season and his third goal in two games.
In the second period, the Vees continued to roll, as Soleway and Nanne scored goals 20 seconds apart to give the Vees a 5-0 lead. Soleway deflected a point shot at 7:10 and then fed the puck to a wide-open Nanne in the slot at 7:30.
The Vees had a chance to extend their lead when Ryan Fraser-Lee of the Rivermen was handed a five-minute fighting penalty, a 10-minute misconduct and a two-minute instigator penalty for jumping Vees forward Sam Mellor at 12:44.
Darren Hogg replaced Barr for the third period and held the Vees scoreless.
Viktor Dombrovskiy scored at 3:24 for the Rivermen to spoil Nic Renyard's bid for a shutout.
Shots on goal were 42-26 in favour of the Vees, who have 43 points and remain first overall in BCHL standings ahead of the Chilliwack Chiefs. The Vees are 12 points up on the West Kelowna Warriors in the Interior Division.
Meanwhile, the second-place Warriors (12-8-1-6) host the Alberni Valley Bulldogs (15-11-0-4) today, 2:30 p.m. at Royal LePage Place.
The Bulldogs were in Vernon to face the Vipers (10-12-0-7) on Saturday night.
The Warriors are coming off a 4-2 home win over the Vipers on Friday night to close out a stretch of three straight games against their Valley rival. West Kelowna also scored a 7-1 home win over Vernon last Friday, then lost 3-2 at Vernon the next night.
In the most recent meeting, Ambrose Firkus netted what stoop up as the winner for the Warriors, while Matt Anholt added an empty-netter and Braxton Bilous and Shawn Hochhausen also scored. Captain Max French contributed two assists and Tyler Briggs made 28 saves to backstop West Kelowna's win.
Aaron Hadley and Adam Tambellini replied for the Vipers, who also got 28 saves from Austin Smith in a losing cause.