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While the Penticton Vees still hold the upper hand, the West Kelowna Warriors loosened the grip with a 2-1 B.C. Hockey League playoff victory on Monday in front of 1,352 fans at Royal LePage Place.
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Liam Blackburn’s fifth goal of the playoffs at 8:19 of the third period stood up as the winner as the Warriors cut the Vees’ lead in the Interior Division best-of-seven final series in half after falling 5-1 and 3-2 in the first two games in Penticton.
The Vees’ Nic Jones opened the scoring on one of six Penticton powerplays at 12:12 of the first period while Jonathan Desbiens — taking a lead pass from Quin Foreman — pulled his team even by sliding the puck backhanded through the legs of Zach Driscoll with 90 seconds remaining in the opening frame.
A scoreless second period saw the Warriors set up Blackburn’s heroics by killing off three straight penalties, including a 5-on-3 situation for a minute and 23 seconds.
Blackburn, a 27-goal scorer during the regular season, deflected a bouncing shot from the point by defenceman Tyler Anderson for the deciding tally.
Matthew Greenfield, the second star of the game (Blackburn was the first), stopped 23 of 24 shots and got help from a post and the crossbar for the win in goal. Driscoll took the goaltending loss, giving up the two West Kelowna goals on 23 shots.
The fourth game of the series is set for Tuesday at Royal LePage Place, while the fifth game is set for the South Okanagan Events Centre in Penticton on Friday. A sixth game, if necessary would be played back at Royal LePage Place on Saturday.
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