The Port Moody Black Panthers have taken the lead in their second-round best-of-seven hockey playoff series against the Abbotsford Pilots with a 2-1 win Wednesday night at home.
The Cats trailed for most of the tightly-played, low-scoring affair after the Abbotsford Pilots' Adam Rossi scored in the opening minutes of the game on a feed from Justin Dorey.
However, the home team was able to buckle down defensively in the second period. Port Moody's Chris Stew scored midway through the final frame assisted by Julian Klaric while Maxmillian Fiedler kept it from going into overtime with a goal in the dying minutes.
Cats' goalie Nick Taylor stopped 29 of 30 shots while on the other end Pilots' goalie Brad Anderson stopped 20 of 22.
The win marked the second in the series for the Port Moody squad, who now lead the round 2-1.
The team bounced back from a 5-1 game 1 loss Tuesday night when they defeated the Pilots 3-1 at home.
Fiedler scored the opening goal in the first period before the Pilots responded with a marker from Riley Lam in the second.
Ryan Panichelli and Klaric both scored in the final frame to notch the Cats' first win of the series.
Both teams will head back to Abbotsford to play Game 4 Friday night at the MSA Arena.
Abbotsford is the top team in the Harold Brittain Conference with a regular season reord of 26-14-6. The Cats trailed in the conference during the regular season with 22-18-6.
For more information go to www.portmoodyblackpanthers.com or www.pijhl.com.
