Recap: TRI 3 - VIC 2 OTL

Michal Plutnar scored with less than a second in overtime to lift the visiting Tri City Americans (22-14-1-2, 47 pts) to a 3-2 victory over the Victoria Royals (19-15-1-2, 41pts) on Friday.

Steven Hodges gave the Royals a 2-1 third period lead

The 5th place Americans widen their gap on the 6th place Royals to 6 points and will play again Saturday on the Island.  It was just their 2nd meeting of the season, with Victoria winning 4-3 in a shoot out back on October 6th at Tri City.

After Jordan Fransoo opened the scoring when the puck bounced in off Eric Comrie after the shot came off the back wall, Brian Williams evened the score before the period was out.  There was no scoring in the second, and in the third Steven Hodges gave the home town the lead for a second time, before defenseman Zachary Yuen evened the score on the power play.

Plutnar notched the winner after firing a shot from the point that changed direction before sliding five-hole on Patrik Polivka with :03 seconds left on the clock – in front of a stunned crowd of 5,489.  It was the first overtime loss of the season for the Royals (2-1).

The puck finds it's way through Polivka in overtime

Tri City went 1 for 5 on the power play, while Victoria went 0 for 4.

Comrie stopped 27 of 29 shots for his 19th win, while Polivka`s record drops to 15-8-1-2 kicking out 31 pucks.

Trent Lofthouse in Royals debut

Alex Gogolev returned to the lineup after missing the past 3 games and picked up an assist.  Newly acquired Royal F Trent Lofthouse did not figure in the scoring but got into many different playing situations. 

Victoria played without F Ben Walker (upper), F Logan Nelson (Lower), F Luke Harrison (Upper), and defenseman Ryan Gagnon and Joe Hicketts who have yet to return from the U-17 tournament.

Tri-City Americans 3 (OT) at Victoria Royals 2 - Status: Final OT
Friday, January 4, 2013 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC

Tri-City 1 0 1 1 - 3
Victoria 1 0 1 0 - 2

1st Period-
1, Victoria, Fransoo 3 (Crunk, Deacon), 1:56.
2, Tri-City, Williams 11 (Bowles), 10:28.

Penalties-Mychan T.c (inter. on goaltender), 6:36; Messier T.c (hooking), 14:12; Feser T.c (interference), 19:41; Traber Vic (tripping, cross checking), 19:41.

2nd Period-
No Scoring.

Penalties-Hodges Vic (tripping), 1:54; Mychan T.c (cross checking), 7:55; Deacon Vic (inter. on goaltender), 14:40.

3rd Period-
3, Victoria, Hodges 10 (Carroll, Gogolev), 4:26.
4, Tri-City, Yuen 4 (Feser, Mychan), 10:38 (PP).

Penalties-Tomchuk T.c (holding), 0:42; Stahl Vic (roughing), 9:21; Crunk Vic (boarding), 15:31.

OT Period-
5, Tri-City, Plutnar 2 (Rankin), 4:59.

Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-
Tri-City 7-11-14-2-34.
Victoria 8-10-10-1-29.

Power Play Opportunities-
Tri-City 1 / 5;
Victoria 0 / 4.

Goalies-
Tri-City, Comrie 19-13-1-2 (29 shots-27 saves).
Victoria, Polivka 15-8-1-2 (34 shots-31 saves).

A-5,489
Referees-Chris Crich (20), Brett Montsion (54).
Linesmen-Tim Digby (75), Bevan Mills (98).