Matt Serratore emerged as the hero for the Penticton Vees, as he started and capped the Vees comeback in their 3-2 overtime win over West Kelowna on Wednesday night at the SOEC.
Serratore spun and fired a shot through the legs of a surprised Scott Patton 3:43 into OT, as the Vees tied their best-of-seven series 1-1. Demico Hannoun also scored for the Vees, who erased a two-goal third period deficit, to avoid a 2-0 series deficit.
Nick Rutigliano and Andrew Johnson scored for West Kelowna and Patton made 44-saves in a losing effort but was named the game’s second star.
Down 2-0 to start the third, Serratore ignited the comeback when he buried a rebound off the pad of Patton. Mitch Newsome fired the puck on net from the right-wing and the rebound popped out to Serratore who banged-in his first of the post-season at 1:41; his first goal in over two months.
Demico Hannoun tied the game at two’s eight-minutes later on a Vees power-play. Hannoun made a couple of nice moves in tight quarters before cutting the goal and forcing a shot through Patton on the short-side at 8:57; his second of the post-season.
Miles Gendron set up the OT winner on a bit of a broken play. Gendron picked up the puck on the right-wing and he fell as he was cutting to the net, but managed to get the puck over to Serratore, who quickly turned and fired a slap-shot through Patton’s legs.
After a scoreless first period, Rutigliano broke a scoreless deadlock midway through the middle stanza. The Warriors broke into the Vees zone on an odd-man rush and Rutigliano took a drop pass in the right-circle and snapped the puck past a screened Hunter Miska at 9:54.
Johnson doubled the Warriors lead on another counter-attack in the Vees end in the second. Brayden Gelsinger fired it across to Johnson and his change-up snuck through Miska on the blocker-side at 14:17; the Warriors scoring on back-to-back odd-man rushes.
A key moment in the comeback came late in the second period, as Hunter Miska made an eye-popping save on Tanner Campbell. Down 2-0 at the time, Miska stacked his pads as he came across and got just enough of Campbell’s one-timer to direct it over the net.
Final Score: 3-2 (OT) Vees
Shots: 47-32 Vees
Power-Play: Vees 1-6 Warriors 0-4
Three Stars: 1) Matt Serratore 2) Scott Patton 3) Jonathan Desbiens
Attendance: 1,672
Including the regular season, the Vees are now 10-2 when coming off a loss; they’ve held their opponent to two or less goals in nine of those 12 contests. Matt Serratore scored his first two goals since November 19th against Langley; he missed over two months of the regular season with a broken ankle.
The series shifts to West Kelowna and Royal LePage Place for games three and four, on Friday, March 6th and Saturday, March 7th; both games are at 7pm. Fans can listen to both games on EZ Rock AM 800, or watch online at www.fasthockey.com
