The Bulldogs faced elimination Tuesday night as they hosted the Grizzlies at the Dog Pound. The Bulldogs and Grizzlies both had an energetic start to the game, with players taking healthy runs at everyone, everywhere as the atmosphere was hostile. One trend that continued from Game 3 was that the Bulldogs didn’t get enough pucks on the net – through a combination of a lack of containment in the offensive zone, but also due to possibly trying to make one too many passes. The Grizzlies found the board first on a good breakout and an attack on the rush as Blake Thompson sent Myles Fitzgerald up the right wing where he gained the Dogs zone and then found Leo walking right down the middle un touched where he beat Jay Deo from the hash marks high blocker side at 12:49 of the first for a 1-0 lead after one.
The Bulldogs came out with renewed energy in the second period, getting on the board just over two minutes in as Chase Van Allen battled the puck out of his zone up the right wing to Matt Hansen, who carried the puck over the Victoria line up the right wing before throwing the puck on net from the half boards. He placed the shot perfectly low far-pad and Brady Rouleau kicked a rebound out to the slot where Affiliate Player Mak Barden one-timed it home to tie the game at 1-1 at 2:16 of the second. The celebration after the goal was somewhat dampened as Manny Gialedakis was cross-checked down to the ice after the puck went in and remained on the for an extended period. None of the four officials detected what happened, as no penalty was called on the play. The score remained 1-1 until the late stages of the period when Jay Deo misplayed a dump in off the end boards, giving the puck away in the slot to Chris Albertini who scored into the empty net. The goal was unassisted at 15:21 of the second. The Bulldogs would battle back to tie the game with just 5 seconds left on the clock when they went to work on a power play chance with 20 seconds left to the period as Teal Burns fed the puck to the point to Evan Tironese, who set up Matt Hansen in the left circle where he went top corner, short side on Brady Rouleau for a 2-2 tie. The period ended with fireworks when Chris Albertini drove Jared Wilson into Bulldog goalie Jay Deo after the whisle.
The Grizzlies would earn a power play early in the third period to take their third lead of the game just under a minute in as DJ Jones took a pass at the top of the point from Leo Fitzgerald and one-timed it on net where it was stopped by Jay Deo. David Mazurek would find the rebound at the side of the net and jam it home to make it 3-2 at the 56 second mark. The Grizzlies held the lead until the late stages of the third period but the Bulldogs were resilient, battling to tie the game late as Evan Tironese took a head man pass and accelerated through centre ice before dumping it hard along the ice off the end boards and then winning the race to his own dump in before throwing the puck to the top of the crease for Mak Barden who was again driving the net, where he jammed it home through Rouleau as the Dog Pound erupted into an absolute zoo with the game tied 3-3 with 2:38 to play as the game went to overtime.
The Grizzlies controlled the play early in overtime as the Dogs appeared tight, and the Grizzlies certainly were motivated not to head back to Victoria for Game 5. Jay Deo would stand tall to keep the Dogs in it until the Grizzlies got caught with a line stuck on the ice due to an icing call. Ryan Lough would win the draw back to the right point where Marlon Sabo one-timed it home top corner, far side on Brady Rouleau as the roof almost came off the building and the Dogs jumped off the bench to celebrate. Ryan Lough picked up the only assist on the goal at 13:36 of overtime.
Final shots favoured the Grizzlies 41-25 with Jay Deo picking up 2nd star honours with the win while Brady Rouleau took the loss. Both teams went 1 or 3 on the power play. Game 5 goes Wednesday night in Victoria.
