The Vernon Vipers avoided falling into a deadly trap on Tuesday night with a 4-2 road victory at Hap Parker Arena to tie the 2010 Fred Page Cup Finals at two games apiece.
After dropping Games 2 and 3, the defending champions were facing a 3-1 series deficit if they lost a third straight in the BCHL Championship. But the Vipers conquered adversity on the road and now have regained home-ice advantage as the teams return to the Wesbild Centre for a pivotal Game 5 meeting on Thursday.
Vernon received another big game from Connor Jones and Sahir Gill, who have combined to make life difficult for the Kings in the Vipers' two victories. The top-line forwards each pumped in a goal and an assist in the second period of Game 4, including Gill's eventual game-winner with 31 seconds left in the frame. Altogether, the top line, along with Kellen Jones, has contributed 10 points in four games to this stage in the Fred Page Cup.
The visitors opened the scoring and accounted for the lone marker of the first period, as Cory Kane finished off a pass from Rob Short five minutes into the game to give Vernon a 1-0 advantage early with the all-important first goal.
Daniel Carr answered for Powell River with his first point of the Fred Page Cup Finals to even the score, as Short was serving two for tripping. But then the Jones-Gill combination connected 21 seconds later to put the Vipers back in front before the late second-period goal by Gill.
Chad Niddery, who has four points in the series, scored to close the gap to 3-2. Justin Dasilva assisted on the play for his second helper of the night and fifth point in two home playoff games, but Powell River couldn't manage the equalizer.
For Vernon, despite failing to score once on seven power-play opportunities, they found a way to pull out the much-needed win in Powell River to even the Fred Page Cup. Graeme Gordon was only forced to make a handful of big saves in the win, as the Kings threw 22 pucks his way on Tuesday.
The two teams will enjoy a travel day back to Vernon before taking the ice for Game 5 on Thursday night.
