Ben Brar had the overtime winner on his stick.
And he did not miss.
Just like he handled it the first time around, in regulation time.
The Prince George Spruce Kings winger, stuffed on a breakaway chance seconds earlier, gained the puck again in the Chilliwack Chiefs’ end and dragged it across the crease before lifting a backhand shot in behind goalie Daniel Chenard, 8:45 into overtime.
The 3-2 victory Thursday night at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena gives the Spruce Kings 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven BCHL Mainland Division semifinal series with a chance to wrap it up Saturday in Chilliwack.
“I saw (linemate Kyle Johnson) exiting with the puck so I busted hard down the wall and he made a great play to me to spring me on a partial break and (Chenard) ended up saving it, it was a bit of rolling puck but we worked hard in the corner and the puck found me in the slot,” said Brar. “There were a lot of people swinging at the puck and it just kind of popped right to me in the slot and I pulled it to my backhand and slid it home.”
Brar’s shot at redemption in what has been an extremely tight-checking series was the eighth shot on goal the Kings had in the extra session and it negated the disappointment they felt with 7 ½ minutes left in regulation time.
Brar appeared to have the go-ahead goal at that point on a two-man advantage when he one-timed a pass from Dylan Anhorn while standing off to the side of the Chilliwack Chiefs’ net.
Brar’s bullet rippled the net but it did not count. The goal was waived off by one of the referees who ruled a Spruce Kings centre Dustin Manz made incidental contact with Chenard before the puck ended up in the net.
The teams were tied in shots 22-22 at the end of regulation time.
The Chiefs got themselves into penalty trouble when Corey Andonovski was caught hooking and 20 seconds later Anthony Vincent tripped Kings defenceman Layton Ahac as he carried the puck across the blueline. They were under extreme pressure in their own zone just before Brar’s disallowed goal.
“It was an emotional game for sure and we managed to stay rather calm and once we settled in, we had some thing we didn’t like, but we really just stuck to our gameplan,” said Johnson, the Kings captain, who had his best game of the series.
“In that room before the overtime period we were a focused group, we were an excited group and we handled our emotions really well, which was key. It was just a good job in the d-zone by our d-men Chays (Ruddy) and Liam (Watson-Brawn) and Brar got behind the play and I moved it up to him and (Nolan Welsh) had a good forecheck as well and it was kind of an all-five-guy-effort goal and it ended with some good bounces and great finish by Brar.”
As they’ve done in four of the five playoff games, the Chiefs opened the scoring. Bryan Allbee’s low shot from the point found its way through a screen in front of goalie Evan DeBrouwer 10:03 into the game, the second of the series for the 20-year-old from Prince George.
The Kings started the second period on a penalty kill of their own and got out of that unscathed and found a way to tie the game three minutes later. Johnson dug the puck off the end boards and fed out a backhanded pass to defenceman Liam Watson-Brawn, who slid a shot along the ice just inside the post behind Chenard.
The Chiefs answered right away with some sustained pressure in the Prince George zone and Allbee’s point shot with traffic in front caused DeBrouwer to lose his balance. That left the net open for Jared Turcotte, who buried the rebound for his first of the series. That came just 21 seconds Watson-Brawn’s goal.
The Spruce Kings drew even again, 14:54 into the second, when their beleaguered power play ended an 0-for-15 drought. Johnson took the puck off the stick of linemate Patrick Cozzi and from a sharp angle picked the corner on Chenard.
With so little separating the teams in the series, Chiefs head coach Jason Tatarnic said the Spruce Kings used their power-play time, including a hooking call to Tommy Lee three minutes into overtime, to gain some of momentum late in the game and that ultimately led to the Chiefs’ downfall. The Kings went 1-for-7 on the power play while the Chiefs were 0-for-4.
“It’s tough, we had to kill a lot of penalties tonight and that takes a lot out of you, seven penalties against plus a pretty much a two-minute 5-on-3 and they had a power play in overtime and that takes a toll on your body,” said Tatarnic.
“It’s a race for four now and we have to get two now and they have to get one, so we’re not focusing on survival, we’ll focus on Saturday’s night’s game and go from there.”
The Spruce Kings were tough to pin down in Thursday’s game and Allbee knows his team has to win two games to keep playing in the playoffs. Failing that, as hosts of the RBC Cup national championship in May, they face a two-month layoff between games.
“They capitalized on a chance they got and we could have put a couple of ours in but they’re a good team and there’s a reason they finished first, they’re pretty opportunistic and they scored on their chances,” said Allbee. “We played hard but there’s a lot of things we need to do better, just the little things out there, and we’re playing a good team so we’re going to need 100 per cent effort. If we don’t have that then we’re not going to see the results.
“We really hope the fans in Chilliwack come out and support us (in Saturday’s game) but we have to do it for ourselves right now. No one wants to go home early. We want to make this run and go all the way and get through the front door to RBC and we’ll just keep pushing and take care of home ice and bring it back for Game 7.”
If Chiefs can extend the series and Game 7 is required, it would be played Sunday night in Prince George.
“It feels good,” said Brar. “We just have to go into Chilliwack, we know they’re going to be playing desperation hockey and we just have to play our game and hopefully come out on top.”
Thursday’s BCHL playoff summary
Chiefs 2 at Spruce Kings 3 (OT)
(Spruce Kings lead best-of-seven Mainland Division semifinal 3-2)
First Period
1. Chilliwack, Allbee 2 (Yewchuk) 10:03
Penalties – Vincent Cwk (tripping) 14:52, Johnson PG (tripping) 19:49.
Second Period
2. Prince George, Watson-Brawn 1 (Johnson, Welsh) 4:52
3. Chilliwack, Turcotte 1 (Allbee, Brind’Amour) 5:13
4. Prince George, Johnson 1 (Cozzi, Manz) 14:54 (pp)
Penalties – Yewchuk Cwk (roughing), 8:05, Hovde PG (high-sticking) 8:10, Watson-Brawn PG (roughing) 11:39, Slick Cwk (holding) 14:08.
Third Period
Penalties – Andonovski Cwk (hooking) 12:32, Vincent Cwk (tripping) 12:52.
Overtime
5. Prince George, Brar 2 (Welsh, Johnson)8:45
Penalty – Lee CWK (hooking) 3:12.
Shots on goal by
Chilliwack 6 9 7 2 -24
Prince George9 7 6 8 -30
Goal – Chilliwack, Chenard (L,2-3); Prince George, DeBrouwer (W,3-2).
Power plays – Cwk: 0-4; PG: 1-7.
Referees – Matt Hicketts, Bradlee Jones; Linesmen – Nick Albinati, Josh Albinati.
Attendance – 1,012.
Scratches – Chilliwack: F Wyatt Elmer (healthy), D Sean McCloskey (healthy); Prince George: C Ben Poisson (ruptured spleen/shoulder injury, out for season). D Oliver Lester (sprained ankle, week to week), F Blake Hayward (served second game of four-game suspension for illegal hit in Game 2 of the series).
