Forward Noah Gregor showed why the Victoria Royals have always remained so high on the player they originally drafted in bantam, then traded away, before re-acquiring this season at the Western Hockey League trade deadline.
Gregor showed a deft touch in scoring the winner for the Royals at 51 seconds of overtime in their 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Medicine Hat Tigers before 6,004 loud fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
鈥淚t was instinctual . . . something you do in practice all the time,鈥� said the fourth round draft pick of the San Jose Sharks, of his drag move to slide the puck into the side of the net from he was skating away.
Before that was a swooping move down the right side to bear in on the Tigers creasel.
鈥淚 jumped off the bench, and with three-on-three, there's a lot of room out there on the ice,鈥� said Gregor, who extended his points streak to eight consecutive games with three goals and nine points in that span.
It took a rebound goal by Royals forward Tyler Soy with 1:19 remaining in regulation time to send the game into overtime after the Tigers had rallied from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead.
鈥淭hat was a good goal to get for the boys,鈥� said Soy, who is now just one shy of the all-time career franchise record of 140 goals held by Ryan Howse.
The Tigers, missing five players to injury, came into the Memorial Centre hobbled but not bowed as they gave the Royals (31-18-4) all they could handle. Included in the injury list is New York Islanders draft pick David Quenneville, who leads the WHL in points by a defenceman with 59. The Tigers (26-21-7) lead the Central Division of the Eastern Conference but came into the game after losses in Kamloops and Kelowna and are now 3-4-4 over the last 11 games.
鈥淚 was impressed with Medicine Hat,鈥� said Royals head coach Dan Price.
鈥淭hey were fast and tenacious and played a great road game.鈥�
An uncanny, no-look back pass from the side of the net by Soy set up Royals captain Matthew Phillips for his 36th goal of the season at 6:28 of the first period. Phillips extended his points streak to 13 games. The Calgary Flames-signed Phillips has eight goals and 24 points in that stretch. Goals by Victoria defenceman Kade Jensen and Medicine Hat forward James Hamblin, on the power play, followed as the Royals went into the first break leading 2-1. A deflection by Hamblin tied it 2-2 in the second period. Defenceman Kristians Rubins put the Tigers ahead at 12:36 of the second on a soft point shot as Royals rookie goaltender Dean McNabb, who recovered after a shaky start, allowed his third goal on 15 shots to that point.
The six-foot-four Jordan Hollett settled down in the Tigers crease after a hectic start and delivered the sort of assured performance one would expect from a three-season WHL veteran who was selected by the Ottawa Senators in the NHL draft. But he could not hold off the Royals鈥� league second-ranked offence in the end.
The Royals were missing injured St. Louis Blues-signed forward Tanner Kaspick for a second consecutive game. Kaspick is listed day-to-day and Price said he could return tonight when the Royals are in Kent, Washington, to take on the defending WHL champion Seattle Thunderbirds.
