EXPRESS RUN THE RIVER DRY

Photo courtesy of Vancity Sports Blog:

Multiple players had multi point nights as the Express dropped the Langley Rivermen 6-3.

Alex Petan had 2 goals and an assist, John Siemer also scored a pair while Alex Kerfoot had a pair of helpers to carry the offensive attack.

Langley's red hot powerplay got them off to a quick start as Mike Tebbutt had multiple whacks at the puck and eventually poked it past Cole Huggins less than 3 minutes into the game.

Captain Alex Petan quickly responded for the Express as he showed great hand eye coordination to re-direct Alex Kerfoot's wrist shot past James Barr.

The Express got their first lead minutes later off a won faceoff by Kerfoot and John Siemer wired a shot over the glove of Barr.

Petan got his second of the night to put the Express up two on a nice backhand set up by Brady Shaw and Petan put the one timer home in the gaping net.

Tebutt pulled Langley back within one with his second power play goal of the period as his wrist shot from the slot was tipped going high in the air and fluttered over beyond the reach of Cole Huggins and in. At that point Langley's powerplay had struck 12 times in their last 27 opportunities.

Langley completed the comeback early in the second after some good work behind the Express net by Austin Plevy who set up Patrick Martens who roofed a backhand over Huggins.

Then came the turning point in favour off the Express. Justin Georgeson benefited from a broken play and the puck bounced to him and he wired a wrist shot through Barr to put the Express in the lead for good as it turned out. That goal was followed by a great shift from Petan, Bourne and Mckinney which led to an Express powerplay. That powerplay didn't result in a goal, but the Express pretty much did everything but score.

Cole Huggins then made a key save off Mario Puskarich in the final seconds of the period and the Express skated off to the room with a one goal lead.

The Express continued their strong 5 on 5 play in the third. More good work deep in the Langley zone by Bourne, Mckinney and Petan led to the 5th Express goal as Bourne scored on the rebound of a Joona Kuunas point shot.

The Express shut down Langley the rest of the night and when John Siemer scored his second of the game, that put the finishing touches on the win for the Express.

They will now get ready to play their next 4 games vs. the Surrey Eagles starting Saturday night.