Brent Hughes jammed home a loose puck 8:22 into overtime Friday night to give the Colorado Eagles a 3-2 overtime win in Memphis to take a 3-1 series lead in the Northern Conference Finals. His heroics were made possible only by an outstanding individual effort by team captain Greg Pankewicz, who evened the score at 2-2 with a goal at the 19:47 mark of the third period.
The Eagles can advance to their second Ray Miron President’s Cup Finals series with one more win against the RiverKings, with their first opportunity coming Saturday again at the DeSoto Civic Center. A Memphis victory would force the series back to Colorado for Tuesday’s Game 6.
Game 4 Box Score: Colorado 3 @ Memphis 2 (OT)
Colorado Leads Series 3-1
The clubs exchanged power play goals 2:57 apart in the second period after a scoreless opening frame, first by Colorado’s Ed McGrane (7th of the playoffs) then by Memphis’ Travis Banga (6th). Ryan Campbell gave the RiverKings what appeared to be the game winning goal at the 14:40 mark of the third, but Pankewicz went to work late with Louis Dumont in the penalty box for a holding the stick penalty and Eagles goaltender Tim Boron pulled for an extra attacker. Pankewicz picked up a loose puck, skated into the slot and ripped a hard wrist shot past Memphis goaltender Larry Sterling with just 13 ticks left on the clock for his 8th score of the playoffs.
Hughes’ overtime goal was his fourth score of the playoffs, and his second game winner, also netting the winning goal in a 5-2 win at Youngstown April 4th in the opening round of the playoffs.
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