The Victoria Royals are finding it鈥檚 better late than never.
For the second game in succession, they had to rally against the Prince George Cougars in a 4-3 WHL victory Sunday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. It followed Victoria鈥檚 4-3 overtime win against the Cougars on Friday, which required a late goal to tie the game and send it to extra time.
The Cougars are eliminated and going nowhere this season at 23-37-9 while the Royals are playoff bound at 39-25-6. Yet, a goal in the last minute of the second period Sunday by Prince George forward Jackson Leppard, rated the 95th North American skater for the 2018 NHL draft, gave the Cougars a 3-2 lead heading into the final period.
鈥淣o matter the scoreline, we don鈥檛 let it affect the room,鈥� said Victoria defenceman Scott Walford, a third-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens.
鈥淚t shows good character.鈥�
An outstanding individual effort by forward Igor Martynov to strip the puck from a Prince George defenceman behind the net, and then to score on a wraparound, brought Victoria level at 8:09. It was the 18th goal of the season for Martynov.
An opportunistic Victoria captain Matthew Phillips jumped on a loose puck on the power play for the game winner at 13:08. It was the Calgary Flames-signed prospect鈥檚 47th goal of the season as he continued his bid to match his 50 goals from last season.
鈥淚f it happens, great. If not, it鈥檚 not a big deal,鈥� he said, about repeating the milestone.
What鈥檚 more important, he said, is being able to win games such as this at this point of the season.
鈥淧layoff games often come down to one bounce,鈥� he said of the looming post-season, which begins following the Royals鈥� regular-season concluding away-and-home set Friday and Saturday against the Everett Silvertips.
Rookie Tarun Fizer scored his second goal of the season, while veteran Tyler Soy added two assists.
Both goaltenders were busy with Victoria鈥檚 Griffen Outhouse making 33 saves and Prince George鈥檚 Tavin Grant 30. Outhouse broke the franchise single-season record for victories with 35 to eclipse his own record from last season.
Anaheim Ducks-prospect Soy, who holds the Royals records for most career goals, assists and points, added another to his trove of franchise standards by playing in his 321st game for Victoria to break the record of 320 he shared with former Royals defenceman Ryan Gagnon.
The Royals are three points behind the sa国际传媒 Division-leading Kelowna Rockets, with Victoria having two games remaining and the Rockets three. Victoria owns the tiebreaker, but is this a race worth winning? If Kelowna wins one of its three remaining games, or loses two of them in overtime or a shootout, it will clinch the division title and be dubiously rewarded with a likely and unenviable first-round playoff matchup against current Western Conference seventh seed Tri-City. The Americans, although having underachieved in the regular season, are loaded with high NHL draft-picks and were many people鈥檚 preseason choice as the best team in the Western Conference. A Royals regulation-time loss to the Western Conference-leading Silvertips, either Friday in Everett or Saturday in Victoria, will also clinch the sa国际传媒 Division for Kelowna.
Victoria is five points ahead of third-place Vancouver with the Giants holding one game in hand in their race for home-ice advantage in a potential Victoria-Vancouver first-round playoff series in the two-versus-three sa国际传媒 Division bracket.
