An overtime goal from Ryan Gillespie won it for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks as they beat the Penticton Vees 2-1 on Wednesday, May 8, in Game 4 of the Interior Conference Finals.
The Toronto-born winger found the back of the net at 17:33 of the extra frame after the Vees’ Larry Keenan tied the game late in the third period to force overtime.
The series is now tied at 2-2 and heads to Penticton for Game 5 on Friday, May 10.
“It was an opportunity missed,” said Vees assistant coach Matthew Vanden Berg. We had our chances tonight, especially in overtime.”
Salmon Arm netminder Eli Pulver made 39 saves.
His counterpart, the Vees’ Will Ingemann, stopped 33 shots in the loss. Before Wednesday, the Wayzata, Minn. product had won all of his previous seven playoff starts.
After a scoreless opening frame, Silverbacks forward Nathan Mackie scored his fourth of the playoffs at 8:06 of the middle frame.
His marker stood as the game’s only goal until 18:40 of the third period when Keenan found the back of the net while Penticton had its goalie pulled.
Gillespie’s winner on Wednesday was his fourth goal of the playoffs. Marcus Broberg and Tristan Allen were credited with the assists.
Penticton was unable to capitalize on its three power-play opportunities in Game 4, as the defending Fred Page Cup champions have yet to score with the man advantage in the third-round series.
“We had three cracks at our power play, but we had a goose egg,” Vanden Berg said. “We got to dial that in going forward because we can’t waste those opportunities.”
After Game 5 on Friday, the best-of-seven series will shift back to Salmon Arm for Game 6 on Saturday, May 11.
Game 7, if necessary, would be Tuesday, May 14, at the South Okanagan Events Centre.
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