There芒鈧劉s no such thing as a garbage goal 芒鈧�� especially in the playoffs.
For instance: three of the 91原创 91原创芒鈧劉s four goals during their 4-2 playoff win over the Surrey Eagles Tuesday at the 91原创 Events Centre weren芒鈧劉t worthy of any top 10 highlight-reel clips.
But once the puck crosses the opposition芒鈧劉s goal-line, it counts as a goal, and that芒鈧劉s all that matters to the 91原创 who took game one of the best-of-seven, B.C. Hockey League opening round series.
芒鈧揟he last two [goals of the second period] were hard hat mentality goals, but at this time of the year, we芒鈧劉ll take them however we can get them,芒鈧� 91原创 head coach Bobby Henderson said.
The series is a mismatch on paper, pitting the B.C. Hockey League regular season champions and Mainland Division kings 91原创 against an Eagles team that struggled to fourth in the Mainland.
The 91原创 (37-13-3-5) finished 29 points ahead of the Eagles (25-30-1-2) in the division standings.
But this plucky Eagles team didn芒鈧劉t give an inch in front of a disappointingly small crowd of just 743 fans at the LEC.
They carried a 1-0 lead into the first intermission on a goal from Anthony Conti 6:04 into the game.
The 91原创 rallied by scoring the only three goals of the middle frame.
The prettiest of the three was the first one, and came with 91原创 enjoying a man advantage. First-line centre Matt Ustaski found a soft spot in the slot and deftly one-timed a perfect feed from behind the net from his linemate and 91原创 captain Mitch McLain.
Eagles goaltender Bo Didur had no time to react as the puck whistled past him 2:51 into the middle frame.
The next two were of the blue-collar variety and came 11 seconds apart. In rapid succession, 91原创 forwards Marcus Vela and Evan Anderson swatted loose pucks past Didur to give the home team a 3-1 lead.
After Conti scored his second of the night with 2:26 to go in regulation, the 91原创 managed to hold the Eagles offence at bay.
The 91原创芒鈧劉s Jakob Reichert finished off the scoring by depositing the puck into the empty Eagles芒鈧劉 net just before the final buzzer sounded.
Desperate for the tying goal, the Eagles had pulled Didur from the net in favour of an extra attacker, giving Reichert a yawning cage to shoot at.
Henderson said the 91原创 had their work cut out for them Tuesday.
芒鈧揑 thought they played pretty good,芒鈧� he said, regarding the Eagles. 芒鈧揟hey were right in the game all the way through. We did get nice break there, with the two quick ones [in the second period[. They played with a nothing- to-lose mentality and we played like had everything to lose. We had some nerves, which is uncharacteristic for us, but I thought we got better as the game went on.芒鈧�
Game two of the series is tonight (Wednesday, March 5) at the LEC with a 7:15 p.m. opening faceoff.
