Down by two heading into the third period, the Portage Terriers came back to beat the Virden Oil Capitals 5-4 on Wednesday night at Stride Place.
Virden opened the scoring early in the first period when Terrier goalie Ryan Velan coughed up the puck behind the net and Marshall Light put it into the empty cage. Will McKay responded for Portage minutes later snapping a wrist shot past former Terrier goalie Gavin Renwick. Before the first was done Liam Goertzen blasted home a wrist shot on a two on one. 2-1 Oil Capitals after 1.
Virden jumped out to a two goal lead early in the second. Noah Englot threw a puck on net that found it's way through Velan. This would be the end of his night as Mitchell Kathler took over in the Terrier net. Velan finished with three saves on six shots. Kathler played well the rest of the period and it was 3-1 heading into the third.
Whatever was said in the second intermission, it seemed to fire up the Terriers. Nolan Nenow scored on his own rebound 34 seconds into the frame. Adam Belzil then tied the game just over a minute later with a low shot that beat Renwick. Portage continued to ratchet up the pressure and Nenow scored his second of the night with a beautiful tip on Owen Witt's point shot.
It was a quiet night for the referees with only four minor penalties being called and one fight between Adam Belzil and Nathan Schaefer. One of the penalties was in the third period and Tyler Dodgson scored a power play goal for Virden to tie the game.
With less than three minutes to go Caleb Lepitre scored the game winner for Portage. He says the team is motivated to keep winning.
"Right now, we're just trying to win as many of the games as we can. Hopefully get a little advantage on Steinbach and get home advantage. It starts back tomorrow at practice and we'll be back to work here."
Kathler finished the night with 15 saves on 16 shots.
Portage will now get ready to play the Northern Manitoba Blizzard on Friday night at Stride Place. Puck drop is at 7:30pm.