EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick – A wrist shot by Reid Vos from approximately 6 meters (20 feet) at 1:02 of overtime gave the Yarmouth Mariners a 3-2 victory over the Edmundston Blizzard in Game 3 of the best-of-seven Metalfab MHL Cup Final played at the Jean-Daigle Centre.
The Mariners lead the series 3-0 and are one win away from the championship. The next game is Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Jean-Daigle Centre.
Trailing 2-1, the Blizzard managed to tie the game 2-2 as Alex Arsenault scored his 7th of the series with 3:07 left in the third period.
As they did in the previous two games, the Mariners hit hard in the first period. They opened the scoring on their first shot on goal at 3:23 when Tamy Ettaqi (2nd) beat goaltender Thomas Boucher on the power play.
Olivier Coulombe brought both teams back to square one at 0:39 of the second period with his 4th goal of the playoffs with a powerful one-timer shot. The goal was also scored on the power play. But the Mariners quickly responded at 4:41 with Reily Mayne’s (8th) goal after the Blizzard had just successfully defended themselves with a man short.
The game was hotly contested with players from both teams keeping a very short distance from each other. Long passes were rare except on one occasion when Olivier Coulombe flew alone in front of goalie Joey Lovullo in the first period. However, Lovullo turned aside the Blizzard’s first real threat.
Yarmouth had 29 shots on goal compared to 28 by the Blizzard.
By scoring the decisive goal, his 5th of the playoffs, Vos was named the first star of the night. The second star went to Arsenault of the Blizzard and the third star to Ettaqi of the Mariners.
The Blizzard’s last seven playoff games have been decided by a one-goal margin if you ignore the empty-net goals. This is indicative of the extremely tight game between the teams.
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Photo
Alex Arsenault brought the crowd at the Jean-Daigle Centre to their feet as he tied the game 2-2 with just under three minutes left in the third period. Photo by Percy Picard
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Contact: Hugues Chiasson, vice-president communications – The Edmundston Blizzard; (506) 740-0623 – cell phone