It wasn't a perfect outing from the Klippers by any means, but Jordon Hoffman scored his second of the night 46 seconds into overtime to hand the Yorkton Terriers a 4-3 loss tonight.
Hoffman tipped a Sean Flanagan point shot past Warren Shymko to help the Klippers clinch second place in a game they trailed 2-1 and 3-2.
Andrew Dommett and Johnny Calkins had the other Kindersley goals, Calkins tying the game on a 4-on-3 with under five minutes to go. Clarke Breitkreuz, Devon McMullen and Robbie Ciolfi had the Yorkton goals.
The Klippers were playing without John Sonntag tonight due to a one-game suspension he incurred after his sixth fight of the season in Tuesday's game against Humboldt. The team clearly missed the big minute muncher as the blueline had far from a stellar night.
One defenceman who did stand out to me was Cody Lund. I thought he really stepped up and provided some steady minutes for the Klippers. He blocked a few shots, carried the puck with confidence and generally just played a smart game.
Sean Cahill also had a solid night between the pipes. He probably would have liked to have Ciolfi's goal back, but other than that he made some big saves and got some bounces when he had to scramble. He also got run over a couple of times.
Dommett got the Klippers on the board early in the second period after a scoreless first. He came to play tonight, not only offensively but in a physical sense. His jaw injury earlier this year hasn't scared him off from laying the body at all.
Craig Eisenhut had been awarded a penalty shot late in the first period but missed.
Breitkreuz tied it eight minutes into the second, pouncing on a loose puck in the slot, brushing past Flanagan and slipping it past the left pad of Cahill, who seemed to be caught off guard a little.
Yorkton took the lead three minutes later on a brilliant play by Jeremy Boyer. The Saskatoon native had the puck in the high slot to Cahill's right, spotted rookie defenceman Devon McMullen at the edge of the crease and put a perfect slap pass on his tape for an easy tap-in.
But the Klippers pulled even barely two minutes later on a great shift by Taylor Duzan. He set up Hoffman, who deked Shymko glove side, just inside the post.
The Terriers went ahead again 36 seconds into the third period when Ciolfi's weak shot from the right side beat Cahill five-hole.
The turning point of the game came with 5:01 remaining when Keon Vick was nailed with a double minor for high-sticking Braeden Adamyk along the boards. (I know it says 2 and 5 on the game sheet - but the Klippers didn't get a five-minute PP.)
Taylor Duzan and Nathan Murray were already in the box, setting up a 4-on-3 and tons of open ice for Dommett, Calkins, Sanfred King and Kurt Leedahl. Only 12 seconds into the PP, Calkins wired a shot into the top right corner from the right circle to tie the game.
Kindersley still had the second minor on the board and had a chance to win it, but the Terriers killed it off.
A big plus for the Klippers tonight was their penalty kill. Yorkton really never got anything going on their five PPs as the Klips did a great job of clogging the lanes, winning battles to loose pucks and getting them out.
The power play, on the other hand, continued to struggle. They did get the 4-on-3 goal from Calkins but weren't able to generate anything on the first four PPs before that. So there's still some work to do there.
As for first place, the win means the Klippers are technically still in the race, but failing to score on the second minor to Vick and giving the Terriers a point all but ended any chance they might have had at winning the conference.
The Klippers would need to win all three of their remaining games - Tuesday vs. Melfort and the home-and-home vs. Battlefords - and have Yorkton earn only one of six points in order to finish first.
But as Rockie Zinger said after the game, the team's focus now is more on gauging where they stack up against other teams. The Melfort game should be a good tilt between two of the top four teams in the league.
After Hoffman's OT goal, there wasn't enough time for me to get the three stars off, so the stars on the game sheet aren't mine. Mine would have been 1) Hoffman, 2) Dommett, 3) Breitkreuz with honourable mentions to Calkins and Lund.
Interviews
Jordon Hoffman had a terrific all-around game tonight and was rewarded with two goals. Rockie Zinger said tonight (and I agree with him) that Hoffman and Duzan have been two of the best penalty killers in the SJ over the last little while.
Rockie Zinger (When he talks about bad penalties around the 2:40 mark, he's referring to Taylor Wasden's unsportsmanlike minor early in the third period, which he was not at all happy with.)
So who did pick the stars?
ReplyDeleteBarry Andrew, the announcer. They were pretty close to what I had given him before overtime.
ReplyDeleteIn an overtime game like that, I just didn't think the Klippers should have all three stars. People are already talking about home town chiseling of points.
ReplyDeleteAgreed. Like I said, Breitkreuz was in mine. I try not to give them all three unless they win by three or four goals, at least.
ReplyDelete