Cape Breton Screaming Eagles

The 20-year-old Cape Breton Screaming Eagles forward struck in overtime to give his team a 4-3 win over the Herd in front of 4,683 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League fans at Centre 200, Wednesday.

The series now shifts back to Halifax for Game 5, Friday, with the Mooseheads leading the best-of-seven series 3-1.

Clendenning put on the cloaking device and swooped in next to Mooseheads netminder Mark Yetman and buried a pass down low from captain Dean Ouellet on the power play at 2:06 of the first overtime. It was the second night in a row for extra time between the two rivals, after Tuesday night’s 4-3 triumph by the Mooseheads – the fourth-longest game in league history with three overtime frames.

It was a four-point night for Clendenning, a Fredericton, N.B., native, scoring twice and adding two assists. His first tally was almost a mirror image of the overtime winner, another power-play goal with three seconds left in the second period.

“It seems like that’s where they’ve been going in for me all season,” said Clendenning. “Chris Culligan made a fantastic play down to Dean Ouellet and Dean made an experienced play and outwaited their defenceman and slid it across, pretty much like the first goal.”

The power play for the Screaming Eagles in overtime resulted after Mooseheads defenceman and Boston Bruins property Andrew Bodnarchuk was called for tripping on Robert Slaney after the Eagles forward had a breakaway opportunity.

“I thought I was going to catch (Slaney) and went to lift his stick,” said Bodnarchuk. “He’s a strong guy, but it felt pretty weak there. He maybe fell and took the penalty there, but it’s a tough play and you have to do something. You donâ??t want to give him a clear shot.

“The game didn’t go the way we wanted it to, but the good news is we’re still up 3-1 in the series and we’re going home where we’ve been playing some great hockey this year.”

Cape Breton held a 3-2 lead after the second period after Clendenning’s goal in the dying moments of the frame, but Colby Pridham struck with a power-play goal in the third to even the affair and force overtime.

Francis Meilleur and Jan Piskacek also scored for Cape Breton, while Peter-James Corsi and Andrew White – with the game’s opening tally in the first – replied for Halifax.

“It was definitely a heartbreaker last night and we had to regroup,” said Clendenning, who admitted to not being too weary as a result of Tuesday’s marathon. “We knew it was a new day and it was do or die for us and I think it was in the back of our mind and pushed us a little bit.

“We said three games are doable and we’re going to go game by game.”

Olivier Roy continued his solid post-season play, evening his record to 5-5 after making 38 saves in the victory. His counterpart, Mark Yetman, fell to 7-3 following a 41-save performance â?? including 17 in the first period of play.

“At some point, the puck’s going to bounce for us,” said Screaming Eagles head coach Pascal Vincent, who noted the character his club showed to bounce back from Tuesday’s devastating loss. “(Tuesday), we missed so many chances in overtime, it could be 2-2 right now, it could be a lot of things right now.

“But it’s 3-1 and we’re just going to prepare for the next game like we did (Wednesday).”

If necessary, Game 6 of the series will be played Saturday at Centre 200, while Game 7 is slated for Monday at the Halifax Metro Centre. Both have scheduled starts of 7 p.m.

NOTES: Alder Point native Bryce Swan of the Mooseheads sat out Wednesday’s game after suffering two hits to the head during Tuesday’s game. The Anaheim Mighty Ducks draft choice said it was a a precautionary measure and he expected to be back in the lineup for Friday’s game in Halifax.

tjcolello@cbpost.com