Greg Chase was the overtime hero as the Victoria Royals kept their season alive with a 5-4 victory over the visiting Kelowna Rockets Wednesday night, and now trail the best of seven series 3 games to 1.
“The biggest thing for us was to believe that we can come back, and take it one game at a time,” said Chase,
“It showed a lot of resiliency, and a lot of character, to not just fold with 8 minutes left.”
Victoria forces game 5 in Kelowna Friday night.
Down 4-2 heading into the third, the Royals tied it up with a pair of goals just :24 seconds apart by Jack Walker - his second of the game, and Brandon Magee’s 9th of the post season.
“We did a really good job of killing penalties tonight, we stayed with it, we dug ourselves a hole early but we believed that if we got one, we’d get another opportunity.” said Head Coach Dave Lowry,
Victoria shut down all 8 Kelowna power plays, while going 0 for 3.
“You’re playing with fire,” said Lowry on being shorthanded 8 times,
“We have to figure it out in quick order, we can’t take that many penalties and expect to win. We got away with it tonight, it has cost us in a couple other games.”
The Rockets outshot the Royals 40-32, as Justin Paulic made 36 saves for the victory.
Jackson Whistle made 27 saves in the loss, as the Rockets suffered their first defeat of the post season, snapping a 7 game playoff win streak.
Five Royals had 2 point nights, Chase, Magee, and Austin Carroll had a goal and an assist each, Walker 2 goals and Alex Forsberg a pair of helpers.
The line of Carroll, Forsberg and Magee combined for 6 points.
The Rockets got goals from Lucas Johansen, Tyson Baillie, Rourke Chartier and Tomas Soustal. Leon Draisaitl had one assist and two posts.
Victoria’s playoff overtime record improves to 2-1, Kelowna is also at 2-1.
If necessary, the series will return to Victoria on Sunday for Game 6 at 7pm and Tuesday in Kelowna for a game 7.
- Marlon Martens
Individual playoff tickets, starting at $14.50, are on sale at the Select Your Tickets Box Office located at the arena or over the phone at 250-220-7777. Avoid any lines and choose the seats you want by using the “Pick Your Own” seat map, available 24/7, online at www.selectyourtickets.com.
Kelowna Rockets 4 at Victoria Royals 5 (OT) - Status: Final OT
Wednesday, April 15, 2015 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Kelowna 3 1 0 0 - 4
Victoria 1 1 2 1 - 5
1st Period-
1, Kelowna, Johansen 1 (Draisaitl, Gatenby), 15:15.
2, Kelowna, Baillie 6 (Bowey, Quinney), 17:34.
3, Victoria, Carroll 1 (Magee, Forsberg), 17:47.
4, Kelowna, Chartier 6 (Merkley, Stadel), 18:09.
Penalties-Sleptsov Vic (clipping), 6:46.
2nd Period-
5, Victoria, Walker 2 11:01.
6, Kelowna, Soustal 4 (Stephens, Southam), 18:28.
Penalties-Gagnon Vic (inter. on goaltender), 1:58; Draisaitl Kel (slashing), 4:12; Reddekopp Vic (slashing), 5:33; Chase Vic (roughing), 9:10; Draisaitl Kel (interference), 10:09; Carroll Vic (10-minute misconduct), 13:34; Hicketts Vic (cross checking), 13:34; Gagnon Vic (delay of game), 15:09.
3rd Period-
7, Victoria, Walker 3 (Chase), 10:42.
8, Victoria, Magee 9 (Reddekopp), 11:06.
Penalties-Whistle Kel (interference), 1:50; Crunk Vic (cross checking), 6:55.
OT Period-9, Victoria, Chase 7 (Forsberg, Carroll), 5:30.
Penalties-Magee Vic (inter. on goaltender), 0:14.
Shots on Goal-
Kelowna 17-11-9-3-40.
Victoria 9-8-13-2-32.
Power Play Opportunities-
Kelowna 0 / 8;
Victoria 0 / 3.
Goalies-
Kelowna, Whistle 6-0-1-0 (32 shots-27 saves).
Victoria, Paulic 1-0-1-0 (40 shots-36 saves).
A-4,909
Referees-Matt Kirk (4), Sean Raphael (28).
Linesmen-Ron Dietterle (121), Kirk Van Helvoirt (107).
