VICTORIA, British Columbia – Kiel McLeod scored the game-winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the Victoria Salmon Kings to a 4-3 victory over the Phoenix RoadRunners before 3,231 at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in ECHL action Thursday.
Following a scoreless first period, the RoadRunners (6-9-2) struck first as Chris Stevens potted his second goal of the season 3:08 into the second period for a 1-0 lead. Victoria (13-5-0) would then go on to score the next three goals. Wes Goldie tied the contest at 1-1 as he pounced on Ash Goldie’s rebound and slapped it back into the net at 13:36 of the second.
Derek Krestanovich gave the Salmon Kings their first lead of the night at 2-1 when he re-directed Gary Gladue’s shot from the point by RoadRunners goalie Dave McKee just 1:33 into the third. Matt Kelly extended the lead to 3-1 tipping Marc-Andre Bernier’s centering pass behind McKee at 5:02 of the third period on the power play. Corey LeClair got one back for the RoadRunners scoring on a slap shot from the blue line at 6:33. With McKee off the ice and the extra attacker on late in the contest, Sean O’Connor scored the game-tying goal off a broken play in front of Victoria net-minder Billy Thompson with 41.2 seconds remaining in regulation to send the game to overtime.
After a scoreless overtime, Brian Yandle scored in the fourth round of the shootout to give the RoadRunners the lead, but Chris St. Jacques tied it in round five setting up McLeod’s game-winner.
Victoria out-shot Phoenix 45-39. McKee stopped 41 shots but fell to 0-1-1 on the season. The RoadRunners went 0-1 on the power play while Victoria was 1-4 with the man-advantage.
Notes: After not playing past regulation in their first 15 games, the RoadRunners have gone to overtime and a shootout in their last contests…McKee, who stopped four of six shooters in the shootout, led the ECHL last season with six shootout wins…LeClair scored his first goal of the season...The RoadRunners are now 5-0-2 when scoring first.
The RoadRunners continue their eight-game road trip with the final game of a three-game series against the Victoria Salmon Kings at 8:05 p.m. Friday from the Save-On- Foods Memorial Centre. Catch all the action live at www.phxroadrunners.com beginning with “RoadRunners Countdown” at 7:45 p.m.
Phoenix returns to US Airways Center at 7:11 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 6 as they open a two-game series with the visiting Victoria Salmon Kings.
Great seats are still available beginning as low as $8 and can be purchased by calling Ticketmaster at (480) 784-4444, purchasing online ticketmaster.com or visiting the US Airways Center Box Office. Information on season tickets, half-season packages, and flex plans for the 2007-08 season of Phoenix RoadRunners Hockey are available by calling (602) 462-GOAL.
