Victoria, BC ~ Carson Lesiuk’s second of the game at 2:22 of overtime gave the Victoria Grizzlies a 4-3 overtime win at the Q Centre in Colwood on Tuesday evening to cut the Capitals’ series lead in half.
After a strong opening ten minutes from the Grizzlies, Cowichan Valley got itself on the right side of momentum. Their unrelenting push from the 10:00 mark and on resulted in a 1-0 goal from Anthony Hall (1st) off the rush. Their leading regular season scorer went upstairs, short side on a two-on-one to open the scoring and give the visitors a 1-0 lead after twenty.
Cowichan added to their lead after just a minute in the second period on a power-play goal from Ryan Harvey (1st).
After two goalless power plays for the Grizzlies, they finally got their breakthrough when Carson Lesiuk (1st) beat Rhett Stoesser over the left shoulder on a two-on-one shot from the right side. Maddux Martin (1st) tied things for the Grizzlies just over a minute later by cleaning up his own two-on-one rebound shot.
Cowichan would go to a power play and retake their lead at 15:01 with a goal from Jack McAra (2nd), but Victoria dramatically tied things up on a back-door tap-in from Max Anderson (1st) with just 11 seconds left in the frame.
The third period housed nothing but stress for the Grizzlies fans in attendance. Cowichan had seven minutes of power-play time but could not find a way to make it work. First, Michael Dowdall was kicked out of the game for a boarding five-minute major, which Cowichan could not find a way to strike on. Levi Eiter would then go to the sin bin with less than five minutes left, but again the Grizzly kill came up big, and this one needed overtime.
After extended zone time for Cowichan to begin overtime, the Grizzlies found an exit out to the neutral zone. Carson Lesiuk lifted a Capital stick and moved in on the right wing before beating Rhett Stoesser’s low blocker to bring his Grizzly teammates pouring over the bench in elation. His winner at 2:22 was certainly one to remember for the Duncan boy, who has changed the look of the series.
Mikus Vecvanags was marvelous for the Grizzlies, making 54 saves on 57 shots, while Rhett Stoesser was beaten four times on thirty offerings on the Cowichan Valley goal.
Game Four is tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. at the Q Centre in Colwood, with tickets available for purchase HERE. The Grizzlies will hope to tie the series at two.
