Game 4, Eastern Conference Championship Series
(1) St. Catharines Falcons 5
(3) Fort Erie Meteors 3
(best-of-7 series tied 2-2)
Petrovsky scores two — including game winner — as Falcons rally to tie series
Calvin Petrovsky‘s 2nd goal of the game at 7:01 of the third period snapped a 3-3 tie as the Falcons (10-3) rallied from a 3-1 first period deficit with four unanswered goals to tie the series in front a crowd of 1000 at the Fort Erie Leisureplex.
VIDEO: Grenville ties game, Petrovsky scores winner as Falcons tie series
Falcons netminder Hayden Jeffery (W, 10-3) made 39 saves — the most in any of his 13 playoff games to date. Meteors goalie John Lloyd (L, 10-4) stopped 27 of 31 shots faced.
Copying the formula that propelled theto a win in Game 3, the Meteors appeared to be on their way to a second win in as many nights by scoring three unanswered goals in the first period.
The Falcons opened the scoring on a power play goal from the league’s leading playoff scorer Cameron Lowe (4) at 8:59 of the first period. But the Meteors responded just 19 seconds later on Danny Adamo‘s 6th goal of the playoffs which extended his point streak to 8 games. Sam Tonelli then gave the Meteors the lead with a shorthanded goal, extending his own point streak to 9 games. Jack Ryan‘s 5th goal of the playoffs gave the Meteors a 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Fort Erie outshot the Falcons 18-9 in the period.
Calvin Petrovsky started the comeback for the Falcons with his first goal of the playoffs to make it 3-2 for the only scoring of the second period. Brendan Grenville tied the game with his team-leading 7th goal of the playoffs at 5:32 of the third period on the power play. Petrovsky’s second goal of the game 89 seconds later gave the Falcons their first lead since the opening period. Prior to his 2-goal effort in Game 4, Petrovsky had scored 1 goal in 29 previous career GOJHL playoff games.
Nathan Duplessis (6) scored into an empty net to round out the scoring.
Falcons general manager Zack Schipper had high praise for his players’ response when down two goals and faced with the prospect of going down 3-1 in the series. “We got in a hole early, but our guys never gave up. Down 3-1 in the second period we knew we just had to get back to playing Falcons hockey. We were able to do that the rest of the way and got rewarded with a win in a tough environment. Our guys are excited for Game 5 Friday night in front of our great fans.”
Meteors GM/head coach Nik Passero was able to briefly summarize his thoughts on the game, giving credit to the Falcons effort while expressing concern about his team’s performance. “They played like their season was on the line … we played like it was a throwaway game in November.”
The Falcons improved to 4-2 on the road in the playoffs, while the Meteors had their 5-game home win streak snapped and are now 5-2 on home ice in the playoffs.
St. Catharines was 2/4 with the man advantage and are 5/16 (31.3%) in the series. The Meteors were 1/5 on the power play, and are 4/13 (30.8%) for the series, having scored at least one power play goal in each of the four games.
Meteors defenceman Dylan Coers assisted on Ryan’s power play goal for his league-leading 9th power play point of the playoffs. He also leads all GOJHL defencemen in assists (12) and points (13).
The Meteors suffered their first loss in the playoffs when leading after two periods. They were a perfect 8-0 prior to Game 4. The Falcons earned their first win in four games when trailing after two.
Game 5 will take place Friday night at the the Seymour-Hannah S.E.C. Game time is 7:00pm. Game 6 — now a certainty — is scheduled for 7:00pm Saturday at the Fort Erie Leisureplex.
The Western Conference Championship Series resumes with Game 4 on Thursday at 7:00pm when the #1 St. Marys Lincolns visit the #2 Chatham Maroons. The Maroons lead the series 2-1.
