In a duel between goaltenders Powell River Kings forward Cohen Adair finally broke a 1-1 tie in overtime to get the Kings a 2-1 win, putting the Surrey Eagles on the brink of elimination.
The Kings opened the scoring at 2:09 when J.P. Villeneuve scored on an assists from Brandon MacDonald and Teagan Waugh. Kings Goaltender Sean Maguire, who saved 49 of 50 shots in the game, held the 1-0 lead until forward Sean McGovern scored for the Eagles at 16:57.
Eagles goalie Andrew Hunt was 2nd Star in the game despite the OT loss, stopped 36 of 38 shots. The Eagles are now trailing 3-1 in the best-of-seven series, needing to win two straight against the Kings to even things up. The Coastal Conference Championships resume Monday at 7 p.m. PT at Powell River.
It was another overtime thriller in Merritt, as the Centennials and Penticton Vees went to double OT to decide Game 4. Things were knotted at two until 7:05 in the second OT, forward Wade Murphy took an assist from Travis St. Denis to take the 3-2 win and commanding 3-1 series lead.
Merritt didn't go down without a fight. Every time the Vees had an advantage in the contest, the Cents would quickly climb back in it. When Vees forward Steven Fogarty scored at 13:05 in the second period defenceman Billy Marshall of the Cents scored a power play goal two minutes later. When forward Joey Benik got the lead for the Vees again in the third, forward Brayden Low of the Cents tied things up nine seconds later. Unfortunately, for Merritt, overtime is sudden death.
Cents Goaltender Lino Chimienti was 1st Star despite the loss, stopping 44 of 47 shots in the game. Merritt heads to Penticton facing elimination on Monday at 7 p.m. PT.
