The Victoria Royals sure have a flair for the dramatic.
The Royals, who rallied late for a 4-3 home overtime victory the night before against the Medicine Hat Tigers, did it again Saturday with a 3-2 overtime win against the Seattle Thunderbirds in Kent, Washington.
Victoria trailed 2-0 late in the third period before pulling out victory near the death. Royals captain Matthew Phillips scored the shorthanded winner, off a rebound by Tyler Soy, at 4:22 of extra time.
It was Phillips鈥� second goal of the night, his 38th of the season, and extended his points streak to 14 games. The Calgary Flames-signed prospect has 10 goals and 26 points in that stretch.鈥淭his is a very competitive group, and our guys have perseverance, and feel they are never out of the fight,鈥� said Victoria coach Dan Price.
鈥淲e hit two posts, and missed two empty nets, early and felt that if we stayed with it, we could get it done.鈥�
Seattle carried its lead into the third period on goals by Matthew Wedman and Los Angeles Kings-signed blueliner Austin Strand, the first on the power play in the first period, and the second assisted by former Royals forward Blake Bargar in the second period.
The Royals, however, remained tenacious and tied it on third- period goals by Phillips at 14:43, on a breakaway, and Jeff de Wit at 15:59. 鈥淭hey almost willed those goals in,鈥� said Price.
It took the Seattle franchise 40 years to win its first WHL championship last spring. With the likes of NHL rookie-of-the-year candidate Mathew Barzal of the Islanders now graduated, the hangover hasn鈥檛 been too severe for the Thunderbirds (26-18-7) as they cling to a wildcard playoff berth in the Western Conference.
When you are holding down one of the final two post-season berths, there is a sense of urgency that drives you. And it seemed to on Saturday as the Thunderbirds built their lead.
But for the second straight night, Victoria鈥檚 league second-ranked offence left it late, but was not denied in the end.
The surging Royals (32-18-4) are 11-3 in their last 14 games.
Thunderbirds goaltender Liam Hughes looked to be in a denying mood for much of the night as he stymied top-end chances by Soy and Noah Gregor.
Gregor, the San Jose Sharks fourth-round pick, had his points streak snapped at eight games while Soy remained one shy of the all-time career franchise record of 140 goals held by Ryan Howse.
The Royals were missing injured St. Louis Blues-signed forward Tanner Kaspick for a third consecutive game. Kaspick is listed day-to-day.
The Royals are in Portland on Wednesday to take on the Winterhawks before a two-game home set Friday and Saturday against the Kelowna Rockets.
