In their first home playoff game in franchise history, the Tahoe Knight Monsters defeated the Wichita Thunder 5-4 in overtime to take a commanding 3-0 lead in the series. Logan Nelson scored the game-winner, Simon Pinard tallied two more goals, and Jesper Vikman made 32 saves to lead Tahoe to victory.
The fun started in the first, where Isaac Johnson opened the scoring on a rebound goal just over seven minutes in. But Wichita responded with two of their own in the span of a minute, as Ryan Finnegan and Michal Stinil combined to give the Thunder a 2-1 lead to close the period.
Pinard scored his first goal on the power play at 13:04 in the second to tie things up at two, and Wichita would respond again with a power play goal of their own four minutes later to retain their one-goal lead.
Entering the third, the Thunder tacked on just 90 seconds in with a transition goal off the rush, but after that, it was all Knight Monsters.
They outshot Wichita 22-7 in the third, with Pinard scoring his second of the game to make it 4-3 five minutes later, and Patrick Newell notching a game-tying power play goal with under four minutes to go.
Tahoe continued their domination in overtime, outshooting the Thunder 11-1, and Logan Nelson sent the crowd into a frenzy with a backhand shot that slipped through the five hole of Thunder goalie Trevor Gorsuch for the first playoff overtime goal in franchise history.
The Knight Monsters finished the contest with an absurd 65 shots on goal, by far their highest mark of the entire season, including playoffs. Despite allowing four goals, Jesper Vikman stayed strong in the crease, making multiple highlight reel saves and keeping Tahoe in the game late in the third period.
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