Ajeet Gundarah turned aside 35 of the 36 shots the Bulldogs directed his way, and led the Langley Rivermen to a 2-1 win in Game 2 in front of 1282 people at the Alberni Valley Multiplex on Saturday night. Langley now leads the Best of 7 Coastal Semi-Finals 2-0 with the scene shifting back to the Lodge for Game 3 & 4 on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Gundarah quite literally saved the night for the Rivermen with just over a minute to play and Hobie Hedquist on the bench for the extra attacker, Gundarah flashed his glove hand, robbing Josh Van Unen and denying the Bulldogs the chance to force OT.
The game was deja vu all over again for the Bulldogs as Vitaly Levyy opened the scoring in the 1st period to get the Rivermen on the board first for the 2nd straight game. Much like Game 1, the Bulldogs would get the equalizer before the end of the frame as Ethan Bono got his 2nd of the playoffs at 15:11 of the 1st.
Ryan Upson got his 1st of the playoffs at 12:03 of the 2nd for a goal that would end up being the final one of the night for the game winner.
The Bulldogs had numerous chances yet again down the stretch, especially with Hobie Hedquist on the bench for the 6-on-5 attack. Time and time again, Gundarah stood tall and kept Langley in the lead.
After losing just 4 games at the Dawg Pound all season, the Bulldogs have now dropped 2 straight to open the series, and will now be faced with the task of tying to win 4 of the next 5 games against Langley. They can’t of course win 4 games all in one shot, so the focus must be on simply getting back into the series on Tuesday night in Langley for game 3. It’s surely a must-win game for the Bulldogs.
Hobie Hedquist took the loss as he stopped 16 of 19 Langley shots on the night.
