In a game that started low energy, it ended on a high note for the Ice Hawks, who broke their three-game losing streak with a 4-3 overtime win over the visiting Chilliwack Jets on Tuesday.
It went from lots of shots and no bounces going Delta’s way to some crazy plays working in favour of the home team, leading to the win.
Payton Hu was the player of the game, who was attached to the first three goals, scoring two and assisting on the first.
Chilliwack had a few power plays in the first period and was able to capitalize on two of them, with two goals from Mitchell Metcalfe to give the Jets a 2-0 lead after the first 20 minutes.
The Ice Hawks came into the second period ready to score, nearly doubling their shots from the first period, and it paid off at the 13-minute mark. Hu picked up the puck in the right corner and went to skate around the net but cut back to trick Chilliwack goal Brayden Melnyk and passed to Mateo Sjoberg out front for an easy goal.
But Metcalfe struck again, taking a big slapper off a rebound to earn the hat trick and regain Chilliwack’s two-goal lead after two periods.
In the third, Hu was covering on the point and kept in a clearing attempt. He threw the puck on net, and it somehow bounced off Melnyk’s stick and went behind him for Hu’s 19th on the season, leaving the Hawks down just 3-2.
Hu’s 20th of the year tied the game with just under four minutes to go, picking up the puck in the slot on the rebound and shooting high over a sprawled Melnyk to ripple the mesh, a much-needed relief for the Ice Hawks, sending this one to overtime.
Two minutes into overtime, Danylo Bereza and Jaren Ashbee went on a two-on-one into the Jets’ zone. Bereza went over to Ashbee, who went back to him with a late saucer pass over a Jets defender’s stick, and Bereza put it into an open net for the 4-3 win.
Delta is off to Port Coquitlam Friday night and returns home Tuesday (Jan. 16) when they host North Vancouver with a 7:35 p.m. face-off at the Ladner Leisure Centre.
