Langley Rivermen are on the brink of being eliminated from the BCHL Coastal Conference finals, following an overtime loss to the Nanaimo Clippers Tuesday night, May 3, before close to 700 fans at George Preston arena in Langley.
Nanaimo’s Sean Donaldson scored the overtime winner, his second of the game, at the midway mark of the extra frame as the Clippers took Game 3 from the Rivermen 5-4.
Nanaimo’s Charles Tardiff scored the first goal of the game at 13:02 of the opening period, but Rivermen forward Vitaly Levyy’s third of the postseason tied the game for Langley and, most importantly, was their first goal of the series and the first that Clippers goalie Cooper Black had allowed since the first period of Game 3 of the second round.
With the score tied 1-1 at intermission, Langley pounced in the second period, scoring twice on goals by Ryan Upson and Tyler Schleppe to take a 3-1 lead. The Clippers looked to be heading to the break down by two, but scored twice in the final minute, just 23 seconds apart, when Kai Daniells and Brody Waters each scored on the power play to make it 3-3 after two.
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Donaldson gave Nanaimo the lead with eight minutes to go in the final frame, but Riley Wallack scored shortly after to tie the game at four and force overtime.
The Clippers outshot the Rivermen 7-6 in OT and finally won it when Donaldson one-timed a cross-crease pass from Tristan Fraser past Langley goalie Ajeet Gundarah.
Gyndarah stopped 37 of 42 shots, while Black stopped 43 of 47.
Nanaimo defenceman Jack O’Brien, who had three assists, was named first star of the game.
Rivermen players Wallack and Levyy were second and third stars.
With the win, the Clippers remain undefeated in the playoffs and improve their record to 11-0 overall. They will have a chance to clinch the series and advance to the Fred Page Cup finals on Wednesday night, May 4.
Puck drop at George Preston is 7:15 p.m.
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