VandeVelde the hero again

New night, same result.

Chris VandeVelde
scored 1:05 into overtime on Thursday, giving the Oklahoma City Barons a 2-1 win over the San Antonio Rampage and a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series.

The Barons can close out the Rampage with another win in Game 5 on Friday (8:00 ET, AHL Live).

VandeVelde was the OT hero for the second game in a row, becoming the eighth player in AHL history to score two sudden-death overtime goals in the same series, and just the second after Jim Wiemer for Rochester in 1983 (vs. New Haven) to score OT winners in consecutive games.

Thursday’s match was a defensive struggle, more indicative of these two teams than the first two games of the series which saw 19 goals scored.

The clubs were scoreless into the 51st minute until Hunter Tremblay capitalized off a Rampage breakdown and out-waited goalie Jacob Markstrom, burying a rebound chance at the 10:51 mark of the third period.

San Antonio responded just over four minutes later, when Bill Thomas notched his fifth postseason goal at 15:09.

VandeVelde’s winner came off a feed from Teemu Hartikainen and was his third goal in as many games.

Yann Danis, who improved to 4-0 in his AHL playoff career in overtime games, stopped 30 of 31 shots on the night. Markstrom took the loss, making 28 saves.

Western Conference Semifinals – Series “K” (best-of-7) 
1-Oklahoma City Barons vs. 6-San Antonio Rampage 
Game 1 – Thurs., May 3 – San Antonio 6, OKLAHOMA CITY 4
Game 1 – Sat., May 5 – OKLAHOMA CITY 5, San Antonio 4 (OT)
Game 1 – Mon., May 7 – Oklahoma City 2, SAN ANTONIO 1 (OT)
Game 1 – Thurs., May 10 – Oklahoma City 2, SAN ANTONIO 1 (OT)
Game 5 – Fri., May 11 – Oklahoma City at San Antonio, 8:00 ET
*Game 6 – Sun., May 13 – San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 5:00 ET
*Game 7 – Tue., May 15 – San Antonio at Oklahoma City, 8:00 ET