The Beaver Valley Nitehawks exploded for five third-period goals in less than seven minutes on their way to a 6-3 victory over the Grand Forks Border Bruins on Tuesday at the Beaver Valley Arena.
Nitehawks forward Adam Redding scored the game winning goal on the power play 4:37 into the final frame on a setup from Ollie Clement and Kaleb Percival to give B.V. a 4-2 lead.
The game was a battle between the two top teams in the Neil Murdoch Division. With the win, the Nitehawks move into first place with a 13-5-0-1 record, tied in points, 27, with Grand Forks at 12-6-1-2, but leading by virtue of more wins and fewer games played.
The teams traded goals in the first period with Trail product Joel Smyth scoring at 13:17 of the opening frame, and the Bruins Cameron Bryant tallying his first of the campaign at 8:21.
The teams were tentative in a scoreless second period that saw the Nitehawks outshoot the Border Bruins 11-8, with B.V. goalie Connor Stojan and Grand Forks’ Ethan Shebansky keeping the score tied at one.
But just 60 seconds into the third period, Nitehawks forward Ethan Smyth scored unassisted on a power play to give B.V. a 2-1 lead.
Boris Hristov made it 3-1 converting a nice passing play from Cooper Ross and Nathan Simm at 17:16.
Grand Forks replied with a shorthanded marker from Ray Warrack at 15:49, but Redding notched his ninth of the season for the game winner 26 seconds later on the power play.
Rossland product Clement assisted on Joel Smyth’s second goal of the game and fifth of the season at 12:21 for a 5-2 lead. Clement then notched his fourth point of the match (1G, 3A) and 10th goal and 27th point of the season at 12:03 to make it 6-2.
The Border Bruins Chad Bates completed the scoring with his 11th goal at 7:53 for the 6-3 final.
The Nitehawks outshot the Border Bruins 41-30 and went 2-for-4 on the power play and 6-for-6 on the penalty kill.
Beaver Valley will host the 100 Mile House Wranglers at the Hawks Nest at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 24, and then welcome the Nelson Leafs to the Nest on Sunday (Nov. 26) for a 2 p.m. faceoff at the B.V. Arena.