Andrew Cristall was the overtime hero for the Spokane Chiefs for a second consecutive game on Tuesday night.
The Capitals prospect won Game 5 for the Chiefs in the extra frame last week and then sent them to the WHL’s Western Conference Championship with a double-overtime, series-clinching goal in Game 6.
Cristall’s second, sudden-death winner was his league-leading 13th goal of the playoffs and was his fourth point (1g, 3a) in Spokane’s 5-4 win. After the two teams couldn’t find a marker in the first overtime period, they played 18:11 of the second before Cristall finished off a wild net-front scramble with the Chiefs on a power play.
After scoring, Cristall chucked his stick into the crowd to a lucky fan before being mobbed by his teammates.
“We were just kinda moving it around the power play, and we got a shot on net,” Cristall said postgame. “There was a scramble, it got to Berkly, and he put it right on a platter for me, and I just had to put it into the open net.”
Cristall also recorded three primary assists in the contest, two coming to linemate Shea Van Olm, who recorded his second postseason hat trick. The four points gave Cristall 28 points (13g, 15a) in 10 playoff games, which also leads the league.
The 20-year-old’s prettiest assist came on the goal that Van Olm completed his hat trick on, 1:17 into the third period. After taking a feed from Berkly Catton at the top of the left faceoff circle, Cristall completed a no-look, fake-shot pass to Van Olm for an easy finish into an empty net.
Cristall and the Chiefs will now play the Portland Winterhawks, with the winner of the series set to represent the Western Conference in the WHL Championship. Spokane went 4-2 against Portland during the regular season.
Cristall had 10 points (5g, 5a) in four games against the Winterhawks for both the Kelowna Rockets and Chiefs.
Elsewhere in the CHL, fellow Capitals prospect Ilya Protas saw his season end in the OHL. Protas and the Windsor Spitfires went up 3-0 on the Kitchener Rangers in their second-round series before being reverse-swept, losing four in a row.
