Alex Killorn scored 13:27 into overtime as the Norfolk Admirals won a playoff series for the first time in eight years, ousting the Manchester Monarchs with a 4-3 victory in Game 4 on Friday night.
The top-seeded Admirals will meet the Connecticut Whale in the Eastern Conference semifinals beginning Wednesday night at Scope.
Killorn, a top prospect of the Tampa Bay Lightning who completed his senior season at Harvard last month, netted his first playoff goal to cap an Admirals rally and give Norfolk its 15th consecutive road win and its 31st win in its last 32 games overall.
The Admirals trailed 3-1 before Mark Barberio and Trevor Smith scored 16 seconds apart late in the second period to tie the score. Norfolk then owned a 20-5 advantage in shots over the third period and OT to knock off the eighth-seeded Monarchs.
Evan Oberg also scored and Dustin Tokarski finished with 22 saves for Norfolk, which had not won a playoff series since a best-of-three qualifier sweep of Binghamton in 2004.
Justin Azevedo, Patrick Mullen and Andy Andreoff scored for Manchester, which fell to 0-10 all-time when facing elimination.
The Admirals and Whale open their series Wednesday and Friday in Norfolk. The series shifts to Connecticut for games May 6 and May 7 in Hartford; Game 5, if necessary, would be played May 9 in Bridgeport due to arena availability. The final two games of the best-of-seven would be May 11 and May 13 back in Norfolk.
Eastern Conference Semifinal – Series “I” (best-of-7)
1-Norfolk Admirals [TB] vs. 6-Connecticut Whale [NYR]
Game 1 – Wed., May 2 – Connecticut at Norfolk, 7:15
Game 2 – Fri., May 4 – Connecticut at Norfolk, 7:30
Game 3 – Sun., May 6 – Norfolk at Connecticut, 7:00
Game 4 – Mon., May 7 – Norfolk at Connecticut, 7:00
*Game 5 – Wed., May 9 – Norfolk vs. Connecticut, 7:00 (at Bridgeport, Conn.)
*Game 6 – Fri., May 11 – Connecticut at Norfolk, 7:30
*Game 7 – Sun., May 13 – Connecticut at Norfolk, 5:00
*if necessary… All times Eastern
