It got much better in the evening as the Grizzlies defeated the Nanaimo Clippers 4-3 without Stirling in Game 4 of the opening best-of-seven playoff series, which the Island Division regular-season champs now lead 3-1.
The Grizzlies can end it in Game 5 which returns back to The Q Centre at 7 p.m. on Friday.
Cole Pickup scored a pair of third-period goals to pace the Grizzlies in the come-from-behind victory, tallying on a power play at 1:23 of the final stanza then adding the game-winner on a breakaway 10:11 later to cap a three-point night.
鈥淗e seems to have found another gear,鈥� Grizzlies general manager and head coach Craig Didmon said of Pickup, a two-sport athlete who also excels in lacrosse. 鈥淗e鈥檚 a great athlete, period. The team challenged each other going into the third period, we felt it was the biggest period of the series and he found that other level.
鈥淗e plays hockey and sports with a lot of passion and it just came out. It came out in him. He does things that require and demand a higher skill level than you think he has, but he finds a way to adapt and get it done.鈥�
After a pair of shutouts (one by each team) in the first two games, this one began with some early offence.
Lucas Clark opened the scoring for the Grizzlies just 4:39 into the game as he beat Evan DeBrouwer on a backhand, but that lead lasted just 1:15 as Victoria product Sean Buchanan notched his second goal of the series for Nanaimo on a shot from the point.
Jamie Rome restored the Grizzlies鈥� lead with his second of the series at 12:34 and the visitors were off to a good start at Frank Crane Arena. But Josh Blanchard and Adam Pilotte provided second-period goals for the Clippers, who took a 3-2 lead into the intermission before Pickup provided the heroics.
DeBrouwer made 24 saves in the Nanaimo net, while Victoria鈥檚 Matthew Galajda stopped 22.
Meanwhile, the Cowichan Valley Capitals were eliminated in four straight games after a 4-3 overtime loss to the Powell River Kings at the Island Savings Centre as Carmine Buono notched the game-winner on a power play just 1:49 into the extra session.
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