It wasn鈥檛 a rabbit, but a puck, the Victoria Royals pulled out of the hat Monday at the Langley Events Centre.
The Royals, with their season hanging in the balance, got a goal from Noah Gregor on their first shot of overtime at 7:06 for a 4-3 victory to send their WHL Western Conference quarter-final series to a deciding Game 7 at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre on Tuesday night.
鈥淭hese teams know each other so well by now, that there is not much tactically that is going to make a difference in Game 7. It is going to come down to sheer will and compete level that will make the difference,鈥� said Royals captain Matthew Phillips, who had two goals and two assists Monday.
Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse faced 43 shots, six of them in overtime. Without that crease play, the Giants would have been on their way to playing the Tri-City Americans in the conference semifinals. They still might, of course, but Outhouse bought the severely injury-depleted Royals at least another precious day of life in the post-season.
鈥淰ancouver pushed in the first period and they pushed in overtime, but Griff played a great game, and allowed us to get our feet under us,鈥� said Royals coach Dan Price.
The player with the fastest-moving feet was again the five-foot-six Phillips, who is undersized in body but not in heart, as he had a hand in all four Victoria goals.
The Giants rallied from a 3-1 third-period deficit to tie the game and send it to extra time.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a testament to our team that we never give up,鈥� said Gregor.
鈥淲e stuck with it. We always had the belief we would get it done, no matter how much time we needed.鈥�
Phillips darted deep down the left side before finding the trailing Gregor with a sly backhanded pass for the overtime winner.
鈥淢atthew took two guys with him and laid it out nice for me to get the shot,鈥� said Gregor, a fourth-round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks.
Home ice hasn鈥檛 been an advantage in the series as both the Royals and Giants have each won two road games.
鈥淏oth teams have had big wins on the road, but we will be doing everything to defend home ice [tonight],鈥� said Price.
鈥淲e are going to take the initiative in Game 7.鈥�
That is what the Giants did in Game 6 as Tyler Benson opened scoring at 7:07 of the first period when the Edmonton Oilers-signed prospect found the top corner over Outhouse鈥檚 shoulder. Victoria countered with goals by Dante Hannoun at 14:57 of the second period and two by Phillips in the first two minutes and 15 seconds of the third period.
The Giants鈥� regular-season 61-goal sniper, Ty Ronning, scored his first of the playoffs and Benson his second of the game to level it 3-3.
鈥淚t was a crazy game. Momentum can switch so quickly in the playoffs,鈥� said Phillips.
鈥淲hen it does, you take a deep breath, and know that they have to drop the puck again. And be in the moment.鈥�
Gregor was indeed in the moment and finished with three points while the always-darting Hannoun had two points for Victoria.
Outhouse made 40 saves. The Western Conference second-team all-star David Tendeck made just 16 saves for Vancouver as the Royals made the most of their chances, although Tendeck did block Royals rookie Tarun Fizer on a penalty shot in the second period.
One of Phillips鈥� goals was on the power play as Victoria went 1-2. Vancouver went 0-5 as Victoria鈥檚 penalty kill proved effectively tenacious. Those numbers reversed a trend in which the teams entered Game 6 with the Royals holding a glaring 27-13 advantage in power plays.
The result was a reversal of last year鈥檚 first-round Game 6, in which the Royals were eliminated on Blanshard in the fifth overtime period by the Everett Silvertips, in the longest game in WHL and CHL history. Victoria鈥檚 last Game 7, also on Blanshard, was in the second round in 2016 in a whiplash overtime loss to Kelowna after the Rockets, trailing by two entering the third period, tied it in regulation with just a heartbeat remaining on the clock.
