The Victoria Grizzlies鈥� big guns came to life Wednesday night in Port Alberni, and saved their season.
Facing elimination, Ethan Nother and Alex Newhook both had their first goals of the playoffs to lift the Grizzlies to a 4-1 victory in Game 4 of their best-of-seven, first-round sa国际传媒 Hockey League playoff series against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs. The Bulldogs now lead the series 3-1 with Game 5 set for Friday night at The Q Centre in Colwood.
Nother got it started early for the Grizzlies as the 20-year-old winger fired a slapper from just over centre that beat Bulldogs netminder John Hawthorne with the game just seven seconds old. It was Nother鈥檚 first point of the series after getting 59 points in 58 regular season games.
Six minutes later, Nother went to work again, setting up Dayne Finnson for the defenceman鈥檚 second goal of the series to put the Grizzlies up 2-0.
The Bulldogs got their only goal midway through the first when Michael Sacco scored on a 5-on-3 power play.
But Cam Thompson gave the Grizzlies another cushion with a power-play goal just 58 seconds into the second. Newhook notched his goal on a nice passing play with Nother and Jamie Rome.
The Bulldogs once again had a big advantage in the power-play department, getting nine man-advantage opportunities, while the Grizzlies had three.
The Grizzlies peppered Hawthorne with 40 shots, while the Bulldogs had 34 shots on Kurtis Chapman in the Victoria net.
If a sixth game is needed, it would be in Port Alberni on Saturday night, with Game 7, if necessary, slated for Sunday afternoon at The Q Centre.
