Ben Berard once again played the overtime hero as the Powell River Kings bounced back from one of their worst games of the season on Friday night, to steal home ice advantage in the series and head back to Powell River tied at 1, with a 6-5 overtime win in Victoria on Saturday night.
A rollercoaster game saw the Kings off to a significantly better start than 24 hours prior. Despite some missteps, the Kings out to a 2-0 lead midway through the period with Josh Coblenz and Ryan Brushett getting the visitors ahead. Victoria countered immediately after the 2-0 through Alex Newhook, Jeremie Bucheler to tie it up through 20.
Alex Campbell got the Grizzlies ahead midway through the middle frame and Victoria looked to carry that into the 2nd break, however a great backcheck from Coblenz and a pass up ice to Touchdown Tommy as Ben Thomas was sprung on a break and converted for his 3rd in as many games and a 3-3 score.
Victoria took their 3rd lead of the hockey game 5 minutes into the third period with Levi Glasman scoring his 7th of the season for a 4-4 game. Victoria countered again as Kyle Pow put a pass up the middle that was picked off by Alex Campbell to bury past Adamyk for a fourth Grizzlies lead in the game.
Powell River went to the powerplay shortly after, with Glasman again stepping up getting a puck in a scramble following a Jayden Lee shot, picking the puck and shooting it through his legs past Chapman for a 5-5 score. Nothing was settled in regulation, so for the first time in the series and the second time for each team in the playoffs, the Kings and Grizzlies were headed to overtime, both 1-0 in the extra session.
With the game destined for a second OT, Nolan Krogfoss knocks down a puck in the Powell River zone and rushes up the right wing, shooting and generating a big rebound off Chapman for Berard to bury on a one-timer, his 3rd of the playoffs for a 6-5 win and a series tied at 1. Mitch Adamyk improves to 4-2 in the post season with a 39 save performance.
The Kings and Grizzlies head back to Powell River with the series knotted at a game a piece, the Kings holding home ice advantage heading into game 3 on Monday night at the Hap Parker Arena, a 7:00pm start.
