The orange and black will have their hands full in Vernon Tuesday night, as they Vipers are unbeaten in their last three.
If that wasn't daunting enough, Trail is winless in their last six with just a tie in that stretch.
However, they might find solace in the fact that five of their next six outings are on the road.
Intentionally or not, it seems the Smokies prefer to be away from Cominco Arena this year as three of their four wins have been outside the Silver City.
Nonetheless, home or away, the bottom line is the Trail Smoke Eaters need to find a way to win.
"We're kind of in a hole here and we're trying to dig our way out, but game by game we are getting better." Forward Bryan Basilico said after Sunday's 3-2 loss to the Powell River Kings.
The defeat - Trail's second of the weekend - could have easily gone the other way as the Smokies held their own with the league's best Kings (10-1-0-1) to the bitter end.
"We were definitely putting a lot pressure on them there, [but] we have to play the full sixty minutes like [we did at the end] and keep playing the body and put it all on them." explained Basilico who netted both of his team's goals.
The Smokies - once again - found themselves down early Sunday and went into the second period behind by a pair of goals. The beginning of period two saw a club that was as different as night and day from the Trail team that took the ice in the opening frame. The energy. The speed. Whatever head coach Bill Birks said to his team during the first intermission, it seemed to work.
What also acted as a spark to Trail's come-from-behind effort in the 2nd was a hit from behind on forward Dylan Mascarin that sent the orange and black on their first powerplay of the contest. Mascarin was visibly shaken up from the hit and not only slow to get to his feet but unstable once up on them. He would later leave the game (and afterwards tell me he doesn't remember much leading up to the play). It was clear to his teammates that they couldn't waste the man advantage opportunity presented to them, and they didn't.
"The puck just came out and I happened to be there so...it just worked out," said the 6'3" 200lb Basilico whose big frame could be parked in front of the net on the powerplay a lot this season.
That half of special teams has been a bright light in a rather dark start for the Smokies as their 23.31% is good enough for fourth in the league - having scored 13 times with the extra attacker.
Unfortunately though, it is not so much what the Trail is doing, but it is what they aren't doing. They've struggled to string a full sixty minute effort together this season and their defensive zone coverage is offering way too many opportunity to their opponents.
So, with a road heavy schedule to finish the month of October hopefully Trail can build off the early season success they've found away from Cominco Arena but in away that enables them to come home and give their fans what they have not seen a lot of this season: winning.
Sunday's game was a perfect example that the team is talented enough to play with the BCHL's best. The group has it in them to not only come back when down but rally around a hurt teammate put their emotion to positive use. There is still a lot of hockey left in the season and Trail is hardly out of the playoff picture yet.
Good luck boys.
Chris Wahl will be calling Tuesday's game in Vernon. You can watch the pay per view at fasthockey.com or listen for free at www.mixlr.com/smokeeaters.
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