Tuesday, March 20, 2012

GAME 3: Mils 2 @ Wings 3 (OT) (Wings lead series 2-1)

With 3:30 left in Game 3, the Millionaires had a 2-0 lead... but then Weyburn's powerplay, which up until that point was 1-for-33 (3.0%) in the playoffs and 0/19 in the series, connected on back to back late chances to force overtime, before Jack Kennelly scored just 3:03 into extra time.

Despite a combined 47 shots on goal through two periods, it was a scoreless tie. Mitch Kilgore had stopped 26 to that point, while Blake Voth stopped 21.

All the scoring in regulation happened in period three. A Bob Pond point shot went wide, and Jesse Mireau stuffed in the rebound off the end boards to make it 1-0 2:12 into the third. Then, in the dying seconds of a powerplay, Lucas Froese tipped home a Lee Christensen one-timer, and it was 2-0 around the midway point.

There was a late 4-on-4 situation, and just as Weyburn's penalized player stepped out of the box, Jordon Hoffman ripped a wrist shot over the Voth's blocker to cut it to 2-1, and on another late powerplay, with 1:30 to go, Jesse Ross had a long shot get blocked, go straight up, and over Voth to tie things up.

The overtime goal saw the Wings chip the puck into Melville's left wing corner... Miguel Pereira got to it first, sent a backhand pass into the slot, and Kennelly one-timed it high glove side.

The positive, the Mils played great, maybe even better than Game 1, and were night and day better than Game 2. They did get into penalty trouble, and were handed back to back 5-on-3's that were VERY borderline calls to put them down two men, both late in the second period. They killed them all off, much thanks to Allen Kilback, who, in his first game of the series, was arguably their best player.

And, that said about some of the calls against the Mils, they were also handed an iffy call the other way just 11 seconds into overtime, and failed to generate anything, much less capitalize and win a game that they were likely the better team in for the most part.

Shots were 37-26 for the Millionaires, who return home, almost in must-win country, for Game 4 tomorrow night. Catch the Pre Game Show at 7:15, Play by Play at 7:30 on GX94, and www.gx94radio.com . Oh, and thanks to those who alerted me via text and twitter that our online streaming wasn't working at the start of the game. I was able to let the right people know and the problem was fixed quickly.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Tough loss but sounded like a great game more exciting than the first two.

Anonymous said...

Wednesday is a new day and hopefully the Refs will not be so terrible. Good luck to the Mills.

Anonymous said...

It is a tough loss, but the Mils will be ready to play in front of the hometown crowd.

Anonymous said...

It is a new day, please do not use the ref excuse, and Melville please tune up the zamboni and make sure propane tanks are full, we want to come but do have to work in the morning.

Anonymous said...

Seems like a couple Mills fans who frequent this blog use refs and injuries as excuses for any loss. Can't it just be about the players that play!!!

john said...

Well the refs made some bad calls. You must be from Yorkton still mad about the Dogs losing.

Anonymous said...

Nope not mad, dissappointed but not mad, we lost because you scored more goals not because of the reffing, both teams are good,should be great hockey forget about Yorkton and enjoy the series

Anonymous said...

Go Red Wings! I'm not afraid to say I'm ticked we lost out to Melville, Go Weyburn Go!