Dramatic golden goal with five seconds left earns Telford Tigers home play-off success
Telford Tigers leave it very late to record play-off success as home crowd roar.
Danny Rose was the last-gasp hero as he struck a Telford Tigers play-off winner - five seconds before a penalty shootout.
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Long-serving defenseman Rose sparked wild scenes of celebration at Telford Ice Rink to claim a 4-3 victory over Leeds Knights in the first weekend of play-off action.
Plucky Tigers trailed 1-0 and 3-2 against Knights - who finished third in the regular season with Telford down in seventh - but Tom Watkins’ side rallied late to force five minutes of overtime.
And with it came the golden goal from 31-year-old fans’ favourite Rose, who turned in at the back post from Patrick Brown’s lay-off before celebrations at a packed out rink saw Rose bundled on by team-mates.
It was an ideal response following Saturday’s battling 3-2 defeat in Yorkshire.
An overtime win and defeat leaves Telford bottom of their four-team play-off group, but level on 10 points with Milton Keynes Lightning and Hull Seahawks. Early leaders Leeds have 11 points. Tigers face Lightning home and away next weekend.
Following a goalless first period, Tigers fell behind to Sam Dunn’s opener on the power play, with the hosts shorthanded due to David Thomson’s penalty for interference.
Watkins’ troops rallied in the second half of the second period to equalise and edge ahead.
Eric Henderson got the hosts on the board after neat hands from short-range following assistance from Brown and Caelan McPhee.
Top scorer Thomson netted to put his side ahead with less a minute of the period remaining, after Tigers saw out a penalty kill for Bryn Capps’ slashing.
A rollercoaster clash continued as the Yorkshire visitors struck twice in four minutes through Edgars Vengis and Owen Sobchak.
It left Tigers staring into possible back-to-back defeats in the first weekend of post-season action but the home side roared back.
A Bailey Perre penalty for interference proved costly for Leeds as Telford’s Henderson levelled matters with a fine wrist shot from range with eight minutes left.
There was nothing to separate the sides in regulation or overtime - until Rose pounced with five seconds left to spark huge celebrations.
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