The Victoria Grizzlies continued their winning streak at an away game Friday with an overtime 6-5 win against the Powell River Kings.
Their first game since Jan. 1 didn’t start off well for the Grizzlies, however, it remained a close battle until the very end.
The Kings opened up scoring just over seven minutes into the first as Dylan Finlay put one past Grizzlies goalie Cole Schwebius.
Just 10 seconds later, Justin Gibson scored an equalizer against Powell River netminder Zak Brice. With the momentum now on their side, Victoria took the lead with a powerplay goal by Andrew Amousse just after the nine-minute mark.
With just under eight minutes left in the first, Connor Eddy put another puck past Brice to give his squad a two-goal lead.
Powell River wasn’t going to let that last, however, and Caleb Parkhouse brought his team back to within one with just two minutes left in the period.
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The Grizzlies outshot the Kings 17 to eight in the first. Through the second period, Victoria outshot the home team 10-8.
Nic Porchetta made it a tied game at the three-minute mark in the second and teammate Karter McNarland would return the Kings to the lead with a powerplay goal at 6:41.
At the beginning of the third, it looked as though the Kings would have the momentum to carry the game in their favour as Aaron Neal slipped one past Victoria’s Schwebius just three minutes into play, but once again the Grizzlies would stage a comeback.
A little over a minute later, Eddy slipped another puck past Brice to earn his second goal of the game. The critical game-tying goal would come at the 13:41 mark courtesy of Amousse’s second of the game.
By the end of the period, both teams had managed 12 shots on goal apiece.
But while the story of regular time play would be one of drawn-out tit-for-tat penalties and scoring, overtime – and thus the game – would be decided by the Grizzlies’ dominating Eddy in just 19 seconds. Slipping the puck past Brice for the third time, the 19-year-old winger brought victory to his team with a hat trick.
With the overtime win, the Grizzlies now sit 12th overall in the league, with 15 wins and 14 losses. The Kings sit in 14th overall with a record of 10-15-3 after Friday’s matchup.
The Grizzlies are set to return to action on Tuesday as they host the Surrey Eagles at The Q Centre.
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