Langley Rivermen sail past Grizzlies in overtime

Grizzlies defenceman Michael Adamek tries to get a shot away while getting tripped up between Rivermen players Tyler Schleppe, left, and Max Bulawka during the first period at The Q Centre on Tuesday night. DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST

Brian Drewry

The Victoria Grizzlies clawed back to make Game 3 ­interesting, but still couldn’t sink the Langley Rivermen as the Coastal Conference fourth-seeded Rivermen scored a power-play goal at 51 seconds of overtime to knock off the fifth-seeded Grizzlies 5-4 and take a 2-1 lead in the B.C. Hockey League first-round series.

After the Grizzlies had fought back from a 4-2 deficit to draw even, Grizzlies winger Connor Eddy was handed a boarding penalty with 38 seconds remaining in the third period. And then Riley Wallack beat Kyle Kelsey in the Grizzlies’ net early in the extra frame for the Rivermen’s third power-play goal of the game to give the visitors the victory in front of a shocked 1,074 fans at The Q Centre. Game 4 goes tonight also at The Q Centre.

After Jack Gorton scored his second of the playoffs late in the second period to cut the Rivermen lead to 4-3, Michael Hoekstra deflected a Tyler Waram point shot past Langley netminder Ajeetpal Gundarah with eight minutes left in the third to force the extra period.

The Grizzlies, who won Game 2 8-3 on Saturday night in Langley, gave up another early-game goal, this time Deven Nagra, whose shot deflected off two players and past Grizzlies starter Cole Schwebius.

Noah Fladager got the early goal back for the Grizzlies, after a nifty feed from Gorton, who was named the game’s first star.

And just 17 seconds into the second, blue-liner Isack Bandu brought the crowd to its feet, finishing off a nice passing play with Ellis Rickwood and Matthew Wood. But Andrej Kovacevic got that one back for Langley just three minutes later. And then the Rivermen made the most of a four-minute kneeing minor to Waram early in the second, with first Max Bulawka scoring with the man advantage that ended Schwebius’ night after he gave up three goals on 11 shots. And then Kovacevic greeting Kelsey with a quick power-play marker to give the Rivermen a two-goal lead and what they though was going to be an easy victory.

The news was also bad on the injury front for the Grizzlies. Already minus Clark Hiebert, the league’s leading scorer among defencemen, fellow blue-liner Eli Barnett suffered an injury late in the first period and did not return.

LOOSE PUCKS: Around the rest of the BCHL playoffs, the Nanaimo Clippers made quick work of the Surrey Eagles. The Coastal Conference third-place Clippers beat the sixth-place Eagles 6-2 in Game 4 on Tuesday to sweep the series 4-0 and advance to the second round. And in Duncan, the Coastal Conference regular-season-champion Alberni Valley Bulldogs swept the eighth-place Cowichan ­Valley Capitals thanks to a 3-2 victory Tuesday night.