Matt Serratore wore the heroes’ cape on Thursday, scoring 3:38 into double-overtime, as the Penticton Vees held of the Prince George Spruce Kings 3-2 at the Coliseum and extended their season-high win streak to eight.
Skating three-on-three, Serratore kept the puck on a two-on-one rush and snapped the puck through Jessie Jenks’ legs at 3:38 of the fifth period, sending the Vees back home on the bus with two points; their first win in Prince George since March 9th, 2012.
Prince George forced overtime after erasing an early 2-0 deficit in the third period. After Riley Alferd scored his sixth to put the Vees up by a pair 20 seconds into the third, Jeremiah Luedtke and Brogan O’Brien scored to level the game.
On the ensuing shift after the Vees second goal, Prince George was handed a power-play. On the man-advantage, Luedtke walked into the right-circle and beat Hunter Miska on the glove-side 40 seconds after Alferd’s tally, to cut the Vees lead in half.
Ten minutes later the Spruce Kings Brogan O’Brien scored on a spectacular end-to-end rush to bring the hosts back on level terms. O’Brien picked up the puck deep in his own zone, broke down the left-wing in the Vees zone and then tucked the puck around a sprawled Miska at 12:21.
After a scoreless first period, in which the Vees outshot Prince George 15-2, Lewis Zerter-Gossage broke the deadlock midway through the middle stanza. Gabe Bast hit Zerter-Gossage up the seam with a pass and the Vees forward got in behind the Spruce Kings defense for a partial break. Zerter-Gossage held off the back-checking defenseman and stick handled around the Spruce Kings goaltender who showed poke-check; Zerter-Gossage’s sixth coming at 12:37.
Jessie Jenks was a big reason why this game got into overtime. The Spruce Kings goaltender kicked-out 23 shots through two periods and 35 shots after regulation.
Jenks thwarted Zerter-Gossage of a game-winning goal in the first overtime period. Jarod Hilderman made a nice chip past to Zerter-Gossage who broke to the net but couldn’t get the puck up and over Jenks’ pad.
The Vees did run into penalty trouble late in both the first and second periods. The Vees killed-off two five-on-three power-plays, including a seventy-second Spruce Kings two-man advantage in the second.
Final Score: 3-2 Vees
Shots: 42-20 Vees
Power-Plays: Vees 0-3 Spruce Kings 1-6
Three Stars: 1) Raymond Grewal 2) Jessie Jenks 3) Lewis Zerter-Gossage.
The win improves the Vees record to 11-1-0-0 and their road record is now 6-1-0-0; they’re 2-0-0-0 against the Mainland Division. Demico Hannoun and Tyson Jost had their seven game point streaks snapped in the win. Hunter Miska stopped 18 of 20 shots for his seventh straight win between the pipes.
The Vees look for their ninth straight win Saturday, when they host the Vernon Vipers at the SOEC; puck drop is 6pm. Save yourself a dollar by buying your ticket on Friday, between 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. at the Valley First Box Office (at the SOEC).
