Jamie Penney put his team in trouble, but then he bailed them out.
Penney, a slick-skating defenceman, picked an errant pass out of the air inside the blueline and fired a wrist shot high over the blocker of Billy Clarke at 5:14 of double overtime as the Corner Brook Royals eked out a 4-3 win over the Stephenville Jets Friday night at the Corner Brook Civic Centre.
The Royals looked like they had the game in command in the later stages of the third period with a 3-1 cushion, but the Jets found life when Jon McCarthy’s slow rolling shot fired towards the goal deflected off Penney’s stick and bounced past Royals goalie Brad Dyke with just over seven minutes left in regulation.
The puck would bounce in the Jets favour less than two minutes later as Nolan Pearson’s shot was redirected past Dyke by Royals defenceman Adam Loveless.
Tommy Ryan and Adam Guy had first-period goals for the Royals, while Dawson Drake scored for the Jets in the opening period.
Darren Colbourne, on the power-play, scored the other goal for the Royals, who had to erase a three-goal deficit in Game 2 of the series to force another marathon that saw the Royals win in double overtime with Jeremy Bishop providing the dagger.
The Royals earned a berth in the league final.
The Deer Lake Red Wings and Port aux Basques Mariners are knotted at one game apiece in the other league best-of-five affair after the Mariners eked out a 6-5 road win at the Hodder Memorial Recreation Complex in Deer Lake Friday night.
