Get ready for Round 4 Prince George.
The Spruce Kings are going to the B.C. Hockey League final.
Ben Poisson made sure of that when he scored the winner 18:09 into overtime to give the Spruce Kings a 3-2 win over the Victoria Grizzlies a compete the sweep of the Grizzlies in the Coastal Conference championship Tuesday night in Victoria.
Poisson knocked down a high pass attempt from Victoria forward Alex Campbell just outside the Grizzlies’ blueline and broke into the zone and while using defenceman Kenny Johnson as a screen he dragged the puck wide and launched a hard snapshot that found the net behind goalie Kurtis Chapman.
The play started when Chong Min Lee knocked the puck away from Carter Berger coming up the left wing side. Campbell took the puck but was forced to rush his pass by Nick Poisson and his brother Ben blocked it with his glove.
"Nick went over to hit him and forced a turnover and he put it up in the air and I was able to grab it out and go with a head of steam at their d-man, who was standing still, and I ended up putting it where I wanted it," said Ben Poisson.
"Originally when I looked t him he was flatfooted so I thought I'd go around him and as I got closer I decided to change my mind and kind of drag it around him and hope it went where I wanted."
The Spruce Kings will await the winner of the Interior Conference championship and will host Game 1 of that series on Friday, April 12 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Liam Watson-Brawn and Layton Ahac scored in regulation time for Prince George. Alex Newhook had both goals for the Grizzlies in the opening 60 minutes.
Both teams had great chances to end it early in overtime.
Ahac saved a sure-goal at the 1:41 mark when he swatted away a puck that was trickling across the line after Newhook set up Campbell n a 2-on-1 in front of the net.
"That was a phenomenal play by Ahac and that kind of says a lot about who he is as a defenceman to come up big for us, that was a big play in OT and it kind of swung the momentum of overtime for us from there," said Neaton, who stopped 34 of 36 shots for his 12th win of the playoffs. "That was definitely the play of the game. He's somebody I can always rely on to take care of me defensively and he's definitely found his offensive touch in the second half of the year, he's come up with a lot of goals for us."
Ahac nailed the goalpost 3:50 into OT, on a setup in the slot from Lee. The Kings dominated the puck in the extra session and outshot the Grizzlies 13-8.
After three consecutive 4-2 losses to the Kings, for the first time in the series the Grizzlies did not look like they were skating on tired legs until the teams got to overtime, when the Kings took over the game.
The Grizzlies scored two power-play goals in the second period to take a 2-1 lead.
Watson-Brawn had opened the scoring for Prince George 72 seconds into the period when he snuck into enemy territory undetected from his defence position and was all alone just outside the crease when Lee directed a low shot at the net from the left side that trickled in off the stick of Watson-Brawn.
The Kings got into penalty trouble and were forced to try to kill off a two-man disadvantage when Sean Donaldson got caught cross-checking and Fin Williams took a kneeing penalty on the delayed call to Donaldson. Prince George was 15 seconds away from killing both penalties when Newhook, the BCHL scoring champion, fired a long wrist shot that got through a crowd in front of goalie Logan Neaton. Neaton protested to the officials that he was interfered with on the play but the goal stood.
The Grizzlies went on the power play again late in the period when Lucas Vanroboys was sent off for slashing goalie Chapman, who got away with a retaliatory punch at Vanroboys that went unpenalized. Newhook scored the go-ahead goal at 18:29, his 11th of the playoffs, finding the top corner with another long wrister.
"Obviously, being down 2-1 is not what we intend in games but it happened and I think everyone on that bench and in that room knew that we could come back," said Ben Poisson.
Ahac tied it 2-2 with a power-play goal, 9:40 into the third period, with Johnson in the box for taking a hack at Neaton. The Kings gained the zone and Patrick Cozzi’s shot was deflected but Ahac jumped on the loose puck in the slot and lifted a shot high in behind Chapman.
Neaton came up with a gamesaving stop with about three minutes left in the third period when he poked the puck off the stick of Riley Hughes on a partial breakaway. Poisson, the Kings' captain, had the best chance to end it in the final minute of regulation time when he got the puck at the side of the net but failed to get a shot away.
Neither team scored in the first period. The Grizzlies came close 12 minutes in when Kyle McGrath used his speed to get free on a breakaway. McGrath tried to go to Neaton’s blocker side but the 19-year-old netminder from Brighton, Mich., got his blocker in the way for his best save of the game.
The win extended the Kings’ playoff winning steak to nine games and they’re now 12-1 in the postseason, having won 20 of their last 22 games.
"The guys really understand the way you need to play in the playoffs, especially in the playoffs" said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. "Give Victoria credit, that top line (Hughes-Newhook-Campbell/McGrath), I know they mixed it up but those are high-calibre players. That's a hard task for our guys and Vic pushed us hard in the series. It was a game of inches at some point in all four games and certainly tonight, going right down to OT."
A sparse crowd of just 1,051 showed up to watch at the Q Centre, which has a seating capacity of about 2,700.
In the Interior championship Tuesday in Vernon, the host Vipers defeated the Wenatchee 7-2 to take a 2-1 lead in that best-of-seven series. Game 4 is set for tonight in Vernon.
B.C. Hockey League playoffs
Coastal Conference championship
Prince George Spruce Kings vs. Victoria Grizzlies
(Spruce Kings win best-of-seven series 4-0)
Game 4
Tuesday’s summary
Spruce Kings 3 at Grizzlies 2 (OT)
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties – Noble Vic (holding) 7:38.
Second Period
1. Prince George, Watson-Brawn 2 (Lee) 1:12
2. Victoria, Newhook 10 (Hughes, Johnson) 13:44 (pp)
3. Victoria, Newhook 11 (Bucheler, Johnson) 18:29 (pp)
Penalties – Donaldson PG (cross-checking), Williams PG (kneeing) 11:59, Ahac PG (roughing), Lakoduk Vic (roughing), Guiney Vic (cross-checking), Berger PG (misconduct) 15:28, Vanroboys PG (slashing) 17:43
Third Period
4. Prince George, Ahac 5 (Cozzi, Coyle) 9:40 (pp)
Penalties – Brar PG (roughing), Hughes Vic (roughing) 0:58, PG bench (too many me served by Cunningham) 6:03, Johnson Vic (slashing) 8:11.
Overtime
5. Prince George, B.Poisson 10, 18:09
Penalties - None.
Shots on goal by
Prince George 10 12 9 13 -44
Victoria 11 7 10 8 -36
Goal – Victoria, Chapman (L.,8-7); Prince George, Neaton (W,12-1).
Power plays – PG: 1-5; Vic: 2-3.
Referees – Trevor Nolan, Graedy Hamilton; Linesmen – Marko Casavant, Jordan Wood.
Attendance – 1,051.
Scratches – Victoria: F Marty Westhaver (upper-body injury), F Jake Veilleux (healthy); Prince George: F Spencer DenBeste (healthy), F Tyler Schleppe (healthy), F Craig MacDonald (healthy), D Jason Chu (healthy).
