Clan win in OT, Flames snatch late point

Photo: Al Goold

There was all kinds of drama at Braehead Arena on Saturday night for the near sell-out crowd to enjoy, culminating in Glasgow Clan beating Guildford Flames 5-4 after overtime.

The opening period ended with the visitors ahead. A terrible turnover in their own end by Clan put the puck on a plate for Brett Welychka to set up Daniel Tedesco for a far-post tap-in with 5:32 played. Eamon McAdam in the Flames net pulled off a fantastic sliding, pad save to deny Tyson McLellan as the Clan broke 2-on-1 midway through the period, while Keaton Jamieson saw a huge slap-shot come back off the post as the Flames stayed ahead heading into the break.

An eventful second period saw four goals and a change of the lead. Guildford had the better start with Ethan Strang beating Landon Bow five-hole on a breakaway 2:35 into the period, but Clan changed things around over a ten-minute spell. Felix Pare got them on the board at 25:10, followed by a wonderful tic-tac-toe play that ended with Cole Ully tipping a Brett Finlay shot past McAdam at 30:13.

After that goal, the game officials went back to review a possible major penalty and, after finding it on the video, ejected Brett Welychka for a butt-end after a faceoff that began the play.

That put Clan on a five-minute advantage, and they made full use of it with Deven Sideroff firing home in the slot at 33:16.

A rocket from Ethan Strang off a Brett Ferguson feed tied it for the Flames 5:11 into period three, and they were then handed a five-minute advantage of their own when Rylan Schwartz was ejected for boarding. The home side killed off the full five minutes to an excellent reception from their home crowd.

Clan piled pressured on McAdam's net in the final few minutes, and were eventually rewarded by a moment of brilliance from Deven Sideroff who broke through and bear McAdam over the pad to put Clan ahead with only 56 seconds to play. Guildford eventually got the puck deep and McAdam pulled with 10 seconds to go, and stunned the home crowd when an excellent Charlie Curti pass down low fed Charlie Dodero at the far post to level with only three seconds remaining. 

The game headed into overtime when Clan really should have been already celebrating a win, but they weren't to be denied vicotry - 1:42 into the extra period, Ully's speed set him free to beat McAdam with a similar move to Sideroff's and win the game for the Clan.