Kanata, Ontario – Geoff Dempster scored the overtime winner 49-seconds into triple overtime, giving the Ottawa Jr. Senators a 3-2 win over the Kanata Lasers, and a 3-1 series lead on Sunday night at the KRC.
Ethan Manderville centered Dempster a pass from the right corner, and he fired a snap shot from the bottom of the right circle over Lasers goaltender Gabriel Carriere and into the net. After the goal, Dempster and the whole Jr. Senators team went straight off the ice.
In the first overtime period, Kanata forward Trevor Poeze scored, but the officials huddled up and decided to waive it off as it was kicked into the net. The Lasers had already left the ice and were asked to come back on and play the final few minutes of period four.
“We were 100% sure the puck was kicked in,” said Ottawa Jr. Senators Head Coach Martin Dagenais. “We weren’t really concerned as we knew at least one of the four officals saw it.
“They had a big discussion and they made the right call. It was 100% a kick, he never touched it with his stick. We knew it was not a goal, and we were just hoping that they would make the right call.”
Conor Smart tied the game 2-2 for Ottawa with two minutes left in regulation. He scored his fourth goal of the series (sixth in five games), when he roofed his wrist-shot past Carriere.
“In order to beat Carriere you need a perfect shot and he got it through,” said Dagenais on Smart’s rocket shot.”He’s (Smart) has been working hard and making things happen, that’s why he’s being rewarded. We know he can score goals but right now he is playing good two-way hockey. We’re happy he scored the tying goal because he deserves it.”
Dagenais said he was pleased to see his team find a way to win.
“It was a great game, both teams played hard. We spent a lot of time in the offensive-zone and Carriere was on fire but I thought Francis Boisvert made some good saves, too. Good for Geoff Dempster, he played the right way the whole game and he deserved to score that goal.”
The Jr. Senators outshot the Lasers 83-41 in total and 40-19 in overtime time (all three combined). Gabriel Carriere made 80-saves, including a couple of game saving saves for Kanata throughout the game. Both goalies played over 100-minutes of ice time.
Ottawa went 1-for-4 on the power-play and Kanata went 1-for-3 on their man-advantage. Kyle Jackson tied it early on with his third of the playoffs before the Lasers took the 2-1 lead early in the third.
Game five is tonight at 7:30 inside the Jim Durrell Sports Complex. OJS pre-game will start at 7:15 on mixlr.com/ojsradio, CKDJ 107.9 and Hockey TV.
