PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography
PENTICTON, B.C. – Carson Kosobud played the hero in overtime and clinched the Interior Division Quarter Final series against the West Kelowna Warriors in Game #5 on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre with a 5-4 victory in extra time to win the series 4-1.
The Vees opened the game with a plentiful of chances and outshot the Warriors by a 12-1 margin at one point in the frame while West Kelowna netminder Johnny Derrick was busy in the early going, making a few big stops including a left pad save on Jackson Niedermayer in front on a rebound to the slot.
Lukas Sillinger looked to have the Vees on the board for the second straight night but Derrick kept the game scoreless. A bouncing puck on a scramble in front of the net came to Sillinger at the top of the crease where he backhanded the puck toward the net while Derrick sprawled out with his right foot to keep the puck out of the goal and the game remained at 0-0.
Penticton’s second power play of the game would see the home side score the first goal of the game and take a 1-0 lead at the 11:43 mark courtesy of a Conner Hutchison marker. Jay O’Brien fed a pass to the high slot as Hutchison wristed a shot through a smattering of bodies in front of the goal for his 1st goal of the playoffs to give Penticton a one-goal lead.
The Vees continued to dominate play in the 1st period but West Kelowna would even up the score against the flow of play with Carter Wilkie tying the score at 1-1. A stretch pass to Deegan Mofford at the right wing saw the Warriors forward find Wilkie busting up the middle of the ice as he received the pass and beat Perets on the blocker side to even the score at the 16:01 mark of the opening frame.
Just 58 seconds after the Warriors tied the game, Steve Holtz gave the Vees their lead back at the 16:59 mark with his first goal of the playoffs to push Penticton ahead by a 2-1 score. Nico Somerville spotted Holtz with a pass from the left wing as he threw the puck across the zone with Holtz collecting in the right face-off circle and throwing a bullet past the glove side of Derrick for the 2-1 lead with Penticton finishing the period outshooting West Kelowna by a 20-4 margin.
An unfortunate bounce off the referee helped the Warriors tie the game 1:14 into the middle stanza. The puck kicked back to the middle of the ice as Brendan Pigeon spotting John Evans in the neutral zone as he moved in shorthanded, beating Perets on the glove side and tying the game at 2-2 early in the middle frame.
The Vees and Warriors traded chances in through the period with West Kelowna unable to convert on a pair of power plays with Penticton not able to score on their lone 2nd period chance. Before the period was out, the Warriors grasped their first lead of the hockey game at the 18:20 mark off a face-off to take a 3-2 lead.
Brandon Buhr put a shot on from the right face-off circle with Perets making the save with his right pad while the rebound kicked out to the slot as Levi Stauber backhanded the puck past the blocker side of the Vees goaltender to give West Kelowna a 3-2 lead heading into the 3rd period.
The Vees were able to get the game tied in the early going in the 3rd period with their 5th shorthanded goal of the series coming courtesy of Colton Kalezic. The Warriors turned the puck over in their own zone that allowed Tyler Ho to bump a pass to an skating Kalezic, who gathered in the slot and deked to his forehand before beating Derrick on the glove side for his 2nd goal of the playoffs at the 1:07 mark of the period and evened the score 3-3.
The Warriors countered as the period went along and a slap shot from the left point off the stick of Jake Harrison. A shot through traffic from Harrison beat a screened Perets on the glove side to push West Kelowna back into the lead at 4-3 at the 12:56 mark of the 3rd period.
Penticton forced 14 shots on goal in the 3rd period and with a minute and a half to go, Jackson Niedermayer tied the game forced overtime for the second straight night. Niedermayer shredded off a check in the right-wing corner and got to the right face-off circle as he slipped a shot through Derrick on the glove side for his 2nd goal of the series and tied the score at 4-4.
There was only one shot in the extra period as it found the back of the net with Carson Kosobud netting the series clinching goal. O’Brien played a puck up from the left-wing corner as he spotted Kosobud at the top of the left face-off circle as he snapped a shot through traffic that Derrick got a piece of but not all of it as the puck squeaked through his glove side for Kosobud’s 1st goal of the playoffs and giving the Vees a 5-4 victory in Game #5 and a series win.
Yaniv Perets turned aside 14 of the 18 shots he faced in his 4th win of the postseason while Johnny Derrick stopped 37 of the 42 shots thrown his direction in his 4th loss of the playoffs.
FINAL SCORE: 5-4 Vees (OT)
SHOTS ON GOAL: 42-18 Vees
VEES PP: 1/4
VEES PK: 3/3
3 STARS:
1) Carson Kosobud (1-0-1)
2) Steve Holtz (1-1-2)
3) Johnny Derrick (37 saves on 42 shots)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Tyler Ho (0-1-1)
Attendance: 2,838
With the win, the Vees have advanced to the second round of the playoffs and the Interior Division Semi Finals. Penticton will await their next opponent, playing the winner of the Wenatchee/Vernon series in the second round. For full updates on an upcoming schedule for the Vees next series and all information can be found at pentictonvees.ca as well as on the Vees social media channels.
