BROOKINGS – The Blizzard staved off elimination with a 4-1 win over the MN Wilderness in Game 4 of the Central Division semifinal playoffs on Saturday night at Larson Ice Center.
The win ties the series at 2-2 and sets up a deciding fifth game to be held on Monday night in Cloquet, Minn. The puck drops at 7:05 p.m. at Northwood Credit Union Arena with the winner advancing to face the Aberdeen Wings, who upset the top-seeded Minot Minotauros, 3-1, in their series.
Just like Friday’s matchup, neither team could find the back of the net in the first period as the Wilderness fought off a power-play chance less than two minutes into play and then the Blizzard did the same at the end of the frame.
But the visitors weren’t so luck in the second period as Brookings cashed in on its second power-play opportunity of the game 4 1/2 minutes in when the puck rebounded off Connor Koviak’s body into the net past Wilderness goaltender Luke Kania. Cameron Teamor and Paul Cotter were credited with the assists.
The one-goal lead held through the rest of the second and nearly six minutes into the third before Teamor slapped a screamer past Kania to give the home team a two-goal advantage with 14:06 to play as Roman Ahcan and Derek Hammer picked up the assists.
The Blizzard held on until a late double-minor penalty on Brandon Kruse for high sticking gave the Wilderness a four-minute one-man edge, and they finally cashed in with 1:56 to play when Gunnar Goodmanson beat Josh Boyko to make it 2-1.
Minnesota pulled Kania and it came back to haunt them as the Blizzard tacked on a pair of empty-net goals in the final 44 seconds for the final margin.
Ahcan tapped in the first one off assists from Cade Borchardt and Teamor before Koviak notched his second goal of the night with the setups going to John Siebenaler and Boyko.
Boyko finished with 29 saves in the win while Kania stopped 22 of the 24 shots that he faced.
“I think we had a few puck bounces, but I think when you work harder, the opportunities come your way,” said Blizzard head coach Dan Daikawa. “It was a good game – goaltending was good for us and gave us a chance to win – and a couple of individual guys really stepped it up and that’s the difference for us.
“The word desperate has to come into play – our backs were against the wall and they’re still against the wall, so we have to play desperate on Monday night. It’s exciting for us to continue to push this series to another game and whoever is the most desperate is going to be the team that wins.”
Brookings 4, MN Wilderness 1
Wilderness 0 0 1 – 1
Brookings 0 1 3 – 4
First Period
Scoring: None. Penalties: M, Bench (Too Many Men), 18:33; B, Roman Ahcan (Slashing), 1:49.
Second Period
Scoring: 1. Brookings – Connor Koviak (Cameron Teamor, Paul Cotter), pp, 15:37. Penalties: M, Zach Mills (Tripping), 16:21; M, Charlie Parker (Cross checking), 10:01; B, Brett Callahan (Hooking), 9:02; B, Parker Revering (Holding), 0:05.
Third Period
Scoring: 2. Brookings – Cameron Teamor (Roman Ahcan, Derek Hammer), 14:06. 1. Minnesota – Gunnar Goodmanson (Luke Dow, Alexander Esbjors), pp, 1:56. 3. Brookings – Roman Ahcan (Cade Borchardt, Cameron Teamor), en, 0:44. 4. Brookings – Connor Koviak (John Siebenaler, Josh Boyko), en, 0:28. Penalties: B, Brandon Kruse (High sticking-double minor), 4:34.
Power Plays: M 1-3; B 1-4. Shots on Goal: M 9-11-10 – 30; B 8-10-8 – 26. Saves: M, Luke Kania 22-24; B, Josh Boyko 29-30.
