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GAME RECAP: Vees Fall In Overtime, Game #5 Set For Wednesday Night In Penticton

PHOTO: Cherie Morgan/Cherie Morgan Photography

WEST KELOWNA, B.C. – The Penticton Vees threw 38 shots on goal but could not muster more than one goal as the West Kelowna Warriors kept their season alive by handing the Vees a 2-1 overtime defeat in Game #4 of their best-of-seven Interior Division Quarter Final series.

Yaniv Perets had to be sharp right off the opening hop, turning aside Tyler Cristall on a good opportunity in the early going. Cristall made a move down the left wing to get around a Vees defender and cut to the net with his deke to the backhand being denied by the right pad of Perets.

The Vees countered with chances of their own as both teams traded opportunities as the frame went along before Penticton came inches away from finding the back of the net as Jackson Niedermayer walked down the left wing and rang a shot off the glove side post that kept the score 0-0.

Penticton would be first to find the back of the net late in the opening period as Lukas Sillinger collected his 1st tally of the series. A pass bounced to the slot as Niedermayer tried to get a handle on the loose puck before Sillinger gathered in the slot and shot past the glove side of Warriors goaltender Johnny Derrick with 1:15 remaining in the 1st period to take a 1-0 lead.

The 2nd period saw each side once again get opportunities to the front of the net and create chances but both goaltenders stood tall with each of Perets and Derrick turning aside the 13 shots they faced.

Penticton was inches away from taking a two-goal lead in the middle stanza stemming off of a strong sequence inside the offensive zone by Colton Kalezic, Tristan Amonte and Tyler Ho. Amonte gathered the puck in the right-wing face-off circle and spun a shot to the net that clanked off the blocker side post to keep the game at a one-goal margin entering the 3rd period of play.

The Warriors, with their season on the line, came out with waves of pressure and capitalized at the 4:41 mark as Ryan Novecosky tied the game at 1-1. Colby Elmer set up the play with a pass from below the goal line with Novecosky stepping into a shot from the right face-off circle that beat Perets on the glove side to even the score at 1-1.

Sillinger had another chance in front of the net on a turnover deep in the Warriors zone before Carter Wilkie wound his way into the zone with a minute and a half remaining in regulation and worked to the right wing before Perets sprawling to keep the puck away from the goal.

The game was forced to overtime for the first time in the series and it was the Warriors who would come away with a 2-1 victory. After a Penticton turnover, Cristall took a pass from Jake Harrison and deked to his backhand before flipping a puck over the glove hand of Perets 3:14 into the extra frame to end the game in the Warriors favour.

Yaniv Perets turned aside 35 of the 37 shots he faced in his 1st loss of the playoffs while Johnny Derrick stopped 38 of the 39 shots for his 1st victory of the postseason.

FINAL SCORE: 2-1 Warriors (OT)

SHOTS ON GOAL: 39-37 Vees

VEES PP: 0/0

VEES PK: 1/1

3 STARS:

1) Johnny Derrick (38 saves on 39 shots)

2) Tyler Cristall (1-0-1)

3) Yaniv Perets (35 saves on 37 shots)

Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Carter Wilkie (0-0-0)

Attendance: 967

The series will be extended to Game #5 with the Vees having another crack at moving on to the second round of the playoffs with a 7:00 PM puck drop on Wednesday night at the South Okanagan Events Centre. Tickets are available for purchase at the Valley First Box Office, beginning at 10:00 AM, as well as online at ValleyFirstTix.com.