An overtime goal put the Nanaimo Buccaneers up two games to none in the playoffs.
The Bucs beat the Comox Valley Glacier Kings 3-2 on Thursday night at the Nanaimo Ice Centre, as Will Koop scored the game winner in OT.
"It was a full team effort tonight," said Dan Lemmon, Buccaneers coach.
Nanaimo built a 2-0 lead early in the second period on goals from Jordan Levesque and Chad Bell, but Comox tied it up with two goals later in the period on one-timers by Nick Novin and Brayden McCartney.
"When we let in those two goals late in the second there, I thought we did a good job in the third to recover and that's something that we've had trouble doing," Lemmon said.
After a scoreless third period, the game ended five minutes into OT when Nanaimo was awarded a power play and Bucs forward Will McNamara fired a slapshot that created a rebound.
"The puck popped out and I just kind of gave it a good whack," said Koop.
He said the Buccaneers have played well to earn the series lead.
"We've just been playing simple, our game, forechecking hard, hitting hard, just making simple plays and it's been working so far," Koop said.
Alex Orth was the winning goalie with 23 saves and Marcus Gloss suffered the loss while making 37 stops.
Koop said winning Game 2 sets the Bucs up "really well" as the series moves to Comox.
"Now we've just got to go take one or two away from them and just try to close this out as quick as we can," he said.
Lemmon said amidst the excitement of the OT win, the Buccaneers know Game 2 was just another game.
"It's obviously important to win on home ice and we did a good job of that in the first two games, but the series is long from over," he said. "The kids know that."
GAME ON … Game 3 is Saturday (Feb. 27) at 7:30 p.m. at the Comox Valley Sports Centre and Game 4 is Tuesday at 7 p.m. in Comox. If necessary, Game 5 would be next Thursday at 7:15 p.m. at the NIC.
sports@nanaimobulletin.com
Nanaimo Buccaneers beat Comox Valley Glacier Kings in overtime, 3-2. Will Koop scored the game-winning goal… pic.twitter.com/wBNGgTwxD2
— Greg Sakaki (@BulletinSports) February 26, 2016