The Fraser Valley Thunderbirds defeated the Cariboo Cougars 4-2 Saturday afternoon at Kin 1 in Game 2 in the first round of a B.C. Major Midget Hockey League best-of-three quarter-final playoff series.
The series is now tied at 1-1. The deciding Game 3 will take place Sunday at 10 a.m. at Kin 1 where the winner will advance to the semifinals.
On Saturday, the Cougars trailed 2-1 to begin the third period and had almost two minutes left on a five-minute five-on-three power play opportunity.
A blast from the point from Cougars' defenceman Joel Patsey 47 seconds into the third evened the game at 2-2.
The Thunderbirds scored the game-winner at the 10:10 mark on a shot from the point by David Padgham that beat Cougars netminder Griffen Outhouse.
Outhouse was pulled with just over a minute remaining in favour of an extra attacker but the Cougars didn't capitalize on their chances.
Noah Wiebe added the empty-netter with a second left in the game.
Steven Jandric gave the Cougars an early 1-0 lead at the 10:30 mark of the first period.
The Thunderbirds tied it up less than two minutes later on a goal from Nate Castonguay.
After the Cougars hit a cross bar, the Thunderbirds took a 2-1 lead when Nic Ponak stole the puck in the Cougars offensive zone and snuck it past Outhouse.
The Cougars outshot the T-birds 27-19.
