Great Britain beat hosts Romania 2-1 in overtime in their second game at the World Championship Division I Group A in Sfântu Gheorghe.
It was GB’s second hard-fought victory of the tournament following Sunday’s 4-3 penalty shot victory over Ukraine.
Jackson Whistle started between the pipes with Ben Bowns as back-up on the night he won his 83rd cap and became GB’s most-capped netminder of all-time, one ahead of Stevie Lyle.
GB went ahead after only 31 seconds when Josh Waller scored his second of the tournament as he buried the puck from close-range on the delayed penalty (00:31).
The early concession sparked Romania into life and Whistle stopped Radim Valchar’s effort, as well as Szilard Rokaly’s breakaway, before Balazs Gajdo hammered home a rebound from the left-circle (09:31).
Ben Lake and Kieran Brown combined beautifully to set-up Robert Dowd, who shot just wide from the slot.
Photo credit: Dean Woolley
Logan Neilson also went close and Brett Perlini saw his one-time shot saved at the near-post as GB had the better of the second period.
Romania started the third session strong and Whistle made a number of fine stops, including a huge pad save to deny Tamas Reszegh.
Dowd’s clever redirect was well saved by Zoltan Toke while Brown, Ben O’Connor and Nathanael Halbert had chances on two successive third-period powerplays.
GB won it within 36 seconds of overtime thanks to a neat goal by Cade Neilson.
The forward cut inside from the right and put away his own rebound (60:36) to secure GB the extra point.
Poland top the group on six points after two wins from two matches against Romania (4-1) and Japan (2-1), with GB in second on four points.
There are no games in the tournament on Tuesday but GB return to action on Wednesday against Japan at 12:30 (10:30 BST).
Great Britain | Division 1A IIHF World Championship schedule
Sunday 27 April: Ukraine 3-4 Great Britain (after penalty shots)
Monday 28 April: Great Britain 2-1 Romania (after overtime)
Wednesday 30 April: Great Britain vs Japan (10:30 BST)
Thursday 1 May: Italy vs Great Britain (10:30 BST)
Saturday 3 May: Great Britain vs Poland (17:30 BST)
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