After a tough 7-5 loss Monday night, the Delta Ice Hawks evened the Tom Shaw Conference final at 1-1 by icing out the Richmond Sockeyes 5-1 Tuesday night at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
Zach Shaughnessy had a big bounce back night, stopping 24 of 25 shots and making some crucial stops in difficult situations, including a two-on-0 early in the third period of what was then a tie game.
The one goal was in the first period while Richmond was on the penalty kill, with Nicholas Noren poking it under Shaughnessy’s glove.
That held up until 33 seconds left in the second period, when Austin Kofler picked up a loose puck out front and skated around to Noah Stenvig’s right side and put it in past him. It was Kofler’s second goal of the playoffs.
It was all Ice Hawks in the third period with four goals, starting with a unique goal from Kofler to get the Hawks rolling. Richmond looked to send the puck around the net, but Kofler was on the forecheck and got his stick in the lane, causing the puck to ricochet into the back of the net for the eventual game-winning goal.
Kofler then tallied an assist on the next goal, blocking a shot and heading out on a two-on-0 with Michele Romeo. Kofler passed to Romeo at the last second, getting Stenvig to bite and leaving a gaping net for Romeo to punch it home.
Adding on, Yuji Akimoto sent a stretch pass up to Colin Jang, and Jang sniped far corner for his third of the playoffs to make it a 4-1 lead for the Hawks.
That goal was followed a few minutes later by Payton Hu taking advantage of a fall from a Sockeyes defender and showing off his moves for a show-stopping goal to wrap up the 5-1 win.
Game three is set for Thursday night at 7 p.m. at Minoru Arena with game four back in Ladner on Sunday night (March 10) set for a 7:45p.m. face-off.
