A wrist shot by rookie defenseman Jack Sullivan that eluded Victoria Grizzlies goalie Kyle Kelsey 1:17 into overtime has put the Coquitlam Express back on even terms in their first-round best-of-seven BC Hockey League playoff series, 2-2.
It was the only goal of the game at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex that really belonged to Express goalie Andrew Ness. He stopped all 63 shots that came his way, including several clutch saves during a run of Grizzlies’ power play opportunities in the second half of the third period.
Actually, one shot did indeed get past Ness, late in the second period. But the goal was called back after a review by the referees on the iPad in the penalty box. They ruled the Coquitlam netminder had been interfered by a Victoria player who tripped him up as he skated across the top of the crease.
In the series’ last two games, Ness faced 120 shots.
Afterward, the lanky keeper who was acquired by the Express from the Penticton Vees last November, was nonplussed by the workload.
“You’ve got a job to do and you do it until the buzzer is done,” he said.
Coquitlam fired 27 shots at Kelsey.
The result continues the pattern of each team winning on home ice in the eight times they’ve played in the regular and post seasons.
Game five will be played Friday, 7 p.m., at Victoria’s Q Centre, with the series’ sixth game scheduled for Sunday in Coquitlam at 7 p.m.
If a seventh game is necessary, it will be played Tuesday, April 15, in Victoria.
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