Patrik Polivka makes 39 saves, Tim Traber gets winner as Royals edge Blazers 2-1

VICTORIA – Patrik Polivka stopped 39 shots as the Victoria Royals edged Kamloops 2-1 on Tuesday, to trim the Blazers lead in their WHL playoff series to 2-1.

The Royals opened the scoring when winger Ben Walker redirected the puck in at 18:23 of the first period.

Kamloops tied the game at 12:52 of the second period when JC Lipon wired home his third goal of the playoffs on a power play.

Tim Traber scored the winner for Victoria when he banked in a shot off the back of Kamloops netminder Cole Cheveldave 50 seconds into the third period.

Cheveldave finished with 26 saves.

A rough and tumble third period saw a line brawl with 0.4 seconds remaining in the game and resulted in 96 minutes in penalties.

Victoria was 0 for 7 on the power play, and Kamloops was 1 for 6.