by Eric Welsh, The Progress
The Langley Rivermen stole game two from the Chilliwack Chiefs Saturday night, taking a 3-2 win in game two of their best-of-seven BCHL playoff series.
The Rivermen overcame a one goal third period deficit and won in overtime on an Andrew Dumaresque snipe.
Langley heads home for games three and four at the George Preston Arena, a building Chilliwack has struggled in this season.
The Rivermen got the only goal of period one, with Ryan Barrow scoring on a power play.
A five-on-four PP became a five-on-three when a Langley attacker knocked Tommy Lee’s stick out of his hands. Seconds later Barrow buried the rebound of a McKay Flanagan shot behind Chilliwack netminder Mark Sinclair.
But SIncy’s crew came back to take the lead in period two.
First it was rookie defenceman Powell Connor chugging to the net to direct a Ben Fanjoy centering pass past Langley keeper Bo Didur.
The Chiefs look the lead at 6:12 on a power play goal by Kale Kane.
Jordan Kawaguchi threw the puck on net from the top of the left faceoff circle, Kane found the rebound and popped it past Didur.
Shots on goal through 40 minutes favoured Chilliwack 21-12.
The Rivermen tied the game at 2-2 on a Zac Masson goal at 4:55 of period three. Masson parked the goal mouth as D-man Francis Boie chucked the puck on net from the right point. Masson shovelled the rebound past Sinclair.
Langley was lucky to survive the last 10 minutes as the home team shifted into a higher gear. Chilliwack had several near misses around Didur’s cage and whiffed on a late power play.
Meanwhile, Sinclair bailed his mates out with a huge save on Rivermen forward Cooper Leitch. The goalie had to be super-alert with less than five seconds left as Tommy Lee mishandled the puck right into the goal-mouth.
Sinclair covered up to send the game to OT.
But his Chiefs only lasted 3:22 in the extra session before Langley’s Dumaresque ended it.
Brendan Budy led a rush into the Chilliwack zone, dropping the puck to Barrow. Barrow saucered the puck to Dumaresque in the right faceoff circle and he wasted no time snapping the puck past Sinclair.
Final shots on goal favoured Chilliwack 34-27.
The three stars were Kawaguchi (first), Barrow (second) and Ben Fanjoy (third).
The Energy Player of the Game was Powell Connor.
