Hitmen take a 3-1 series lead over Red Deer with OT win

Captain Cody Sylvester scored at 5:10 of overtime lifting the Calgary Hitmen to a 3-2 win over the Red Deer Rebels Tuesday night at the Enmax Centrium.

The win gives the Hitmen a commanding 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Eastern Conference Semi-Final series.

Sylvester pounced on a rebound off a Spencer Humphries shot and beat Rebels goalie Patrik Batosak on the stick side lifting the visitors to victory.

Calgary owned the first period out shooting Red Deer 16-9 getting goals from Jake Virtanen and Brooks Macek to take a 2-0 lead.

The Rebels controlled the second period out shooting Calgary 18-4 pulling even on goals from Dominik Volek and Connor Bleackley.

Both Bartosak and Hitmen goaltender Chris Driedger played a perfect this period setting the stage for Sylvester's heroics in sudden death.

On the night, Red Deer out shot the Hitmen 39-31 with Driedger making 37 saves to record the win.

The series now shifts back to Calgary for Game 5 on Thursday night.  Game time is 7:00 p.m. at Scotiabank Saddledome.

Calgary Hitmen 3 at Red Deer Rebels 2 OT
Tuesday, April 9, 2013 - Enmax Centrium - Red Deer, AB

Calgary 2 0 0 1 - 3
Red Deer 0 2 0 0 - 2

1st Period
1, Calgary, Virtanen 2 (Chase, Rissling), 7:17 (PP).
2, Calgary, Macek 2 (Peterson, Rask), 13:00.
Penalties-Dumba R.d (delay of game), 5:58; Gaudet R.d (slashing), 9:36; Elson R.d (holding), 13:31.

2nd Period
3, Red Deer, Volek 2 (Fleury, Maxwell), 2:32 (PP).
4, Red Deer, Bleackley 2 (Maxwell, Volek), 5:19 (PP).
Penalties-Sylvester Cal (boarding), 1:55; Maxwell R.d (delay of game), 2:59; Macek Cal (hooking), 4:49; Rask Cal (slashing), 5:55; Thiel R.d (slashing), 8:46; Virtanen Cal (hooking), 10:19; R.d (too many men), 19:14.

3rd Period
No Scoring.
Penalties-Dumba R.d (hooking), 3:45; Brassart Cal (cross checking), 9:22.

OT Period
5, Calgary, Sylvester 4 (Humphries, Virtanen), 5:10.
Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Calgary 16-4-7-4-31. Red Deer 9-18-10-2-39.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 1 / 7; Red Deer 2 / 5.
Goalies-Calgary, Driedger 7-0-2-0 (39 shots-37 saves). Red Deer, Bartosak 5-2-1-0 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-5,633
Referees-Adam Byblow (23), Chris Crich (20).
Linesmen-Michael Roberts (87), Cody Huseby (88).