ECHL Greenville Swamp Rabbits

Road Warriors spike Nailers in OT

April 15, 2011 - ECHL (ECHL)
Greenville Swamp Rabbits News Release


GREENVILLE, SC - The Greenville Road Warriors evened their best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals series against the Wheeling Nailers with a 2-1 overtime win on Friday night. The series shifts to Wheeling for the next three games on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday next week. In the first period, the Road Warriors looked like an entirely different team than just 24 hours ago and they took the play to the Nailers throughout the opening frame. Had it not been for some stellar play by goalie Peter Delmas, the Greenville lead could have been a lot bigger than it was. Delmas survived an early barrage that saw the Road Warriors launch six shots his way in the first eight minutes of play. The waters got murkier for Wheeling at 13:12 when Channing Boe was whistled for interference. His penalty was followed by Joey Haddad for tripping at 14:18, and Paul Crowder for roughing at 14:58. Greenville was unable to cash in on the lengthy 5-on-3 advantage, but if the Road Warriors were frustrated, they didn't show it. Shortly after play went back to 5-on-5, Shane Harper took an outlet pass from Brendan Connoly and drove hard to the net. His attempted pass was blocked right back to him so Harper lifted a shot past the out-of-position Delmas for a 1-0 lead at 17:33. In his first start since Game Two against Elmira, Nic Riopel made six saves in the frame to keep Greenville in the lead. Riopel played an even bigger role in the second period as Greenville fell into some penalty trouble early and was down two skaters for 41 seconds. Wes Cunningham was whistled for tripping with 18 seconds left in the first and with time carrying over to the second, Wheeling enjoyed the 5-on-3 when Sam Klassen went off for cross checking at 1:03. In the crease, though, Riopel stood tall with a pair of saves and kept the Road Warriors in the lead. At 7:01, Joey Haddad was sent to the sin bin for roughing and Greenville used the power play to jog its offense. The Road Warriors hadn't managed a shot in the period until then, but once Haddad was off Delmas saw a lot of rubber sent his way. Greenville totaled 10 shots in the period, but like Riopel, Delmas could not be solved and the score remained 1-0 Greenville heading into the third period. Early in the third period Greenville saw its lead dissolve after a turnover at center led to a 2-on-0 rush with twin brothers Tim and Paul Crowder. Paul fed tim a pass off the left post and he just tucked the puck underneath Riopel 42 seconds into the period. Greenville was not intimidated by the tied score, and instead went heavily on the attack in an effort to end the game in regulation. As he had been for most of the game, Delmas was a near impossible puzzle solve and turned aside each of the nine shots he saw and sent the game to overtime. Early in the extra session the Road Warriors were tagged with a too many men on the ice violation and Wheeling took to work on the power play. The Nailers managed a pair of shots with the advantage, which amounted for 67 percent of their shots in overtime, but Riopel denied each of those bids. Ten seconds after the kill ended Andrew Orpik was whistled for cross checking and it was Greenville's turn to attack. The Road Warriors did slip a puck into the net, but it was after a whistle on a Delmas cover up. While momentum evened up with the teams back at full strength but a Wheeling defensive breakdown led to the Road Warriors' winning goal. Marc-Olivier Vallerand took a pass in the slot from Justin Bowers, but his shot was spiked away by Delmas. Jimmy Kilpatrick, however, came streaking in and slammed home the rebound for the winner. It was Kilpatrick's second of the playoffs and was scored at 11:21. Riopel's second win of the playoffs came with 21 saves in just over 71 minutes of work. Greenville ended the night 0-for-8 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. The Road Warriors will be back for Games Six and Seven, if necessary, at the BI-LO Center on April 26 and 27 with 7:35 p.m. start times. Games Three through Five are at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling on Wednesday, April 20, Friday, April 22, and Saturday, April 23. Wednesday's game starts at 7:05 p.m. while Friday and Saturday will get underway at 7:35. Fans can visit Bailey's at 2409 Laurens Road for Road Warriors watch parties of each game.

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