It was last goal wins on Tuesday night and unfortunately for the Langley Rivermen, it was the Wenatchee Wild who scored the winner.
Kyle Stephan banked the puck off a skate and in 18 seconds into overtime in game three of the BCHL Mainland Division best-of-seven playoff series.
The game was played at the George Preston Recreation Centre.
Stephan’s winner gave the Wild the 7-6 overtime victory and a 2-1 series lead over the Rivermen. All three games have been one-goal contests, with the last two requiring overtime. Wenatchee has notched both their wins in overtime.
The Wild had raced out to a 4-0 lead in the first period as Charlie Coombs scored three times and Daniel Nachbaur getting the other.
The Rivermen would respond with goals from Jason O’Neill and Torrin White less than a minute apart to make it 4-2 after 20 minutes. And Ryan Barrow and White added goals 87 seconds apart in the second period to knot the game at four.
Wenatchee’s Matthew Baker and August Von Ungern gave the visitors a 6-4 lead heading into permission but Matthew Graham made it a one-goal game early in the third and Justin Szeto notched the equalizer with less than four minutes to play.
All four goalies saw action in the contest and the Wild held a 33-31 shot advantage.
The series resumes back at the Preston Centre tonight (March 9) with puck drop at 7 p.m. Langley will also host game five on Friday (March 11).
If necessary, games six and seven would be in Wenatchee on March 13 and 14.
