A much better defensive effort, and a 6 goal explosion did the job for the Express Friday as they took the rematch with the Prince George Spruce Kings winning 6-3 Friday night.
A solid contribution from the top 3 lines and steady goaltending from Gordie Defiel paced the Express on this night.
8 of the top 9 forwards hit the scoresheet for the Express. The only forward of that group to not hit the scoresheet was Cody Boyd but made his presence felt with his physical play.
The top line opened the scoring as captain Ryan Rosenthal slid the puck into the Spruce Kings zone, Alex Murray came out of his crease to play the puck and sweep it behind the net. But the Express captain read the play well and picked off the clearing attempt and quickly set up Adam Rockwood who tapped it home.
Brent Lashuk evened it up for Prince George as he took the puck off the boards and cut into the middle of the ice and snapped a shot low to the glove side past Gordie Defiel.
The Express re-stored their lead before the first period came to an end. Marc Biega led the rush into the Prince George end and fired a shot that snuck through the legs of Murray at 18:21. It was Biega's 6th goal of the season and his 5th on home ice this year.
Marco Ballarin pulled the visitors even early in the second period as he had multiple whacks at the rebound of a Sean Landrey shot before lifting it over Defiel just 53 seconds into the 2nd period.
The tie didn't last 3 seconds as Jace Henning broke out of the Express zone and led the attack and snapped a shot that hit the stick of a Spruce Kings defender and past Murray to put the Express in the lead for a 3rd time at 3-2.
Now the Express began to work at pulling away from Prince George.
Bo Pieper blasted home a one timer on the power play on a set up from his brother Canon to put the Express up a pair.
Just 1:02 later Braiden Epp briefly pulled Prince George back within one on a set up from Mitch Eden.
81 ticks of the clock later the Express again were up by 3 as Joey Santucci buried the rebound of a point shot for a 5-3 Express lead.
Then it was the Pieper brothers teaming up again and this time it was Canon banging home a rebound to put the Express up 6-3.
The line of Joey Santucci and the Pieper brothers teamed up for 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in the second period.
The third period was fairly uneventful as the Express cruised to victory the rest of the way.
They fired 35 shots on this night while limiting the opposition to just 25 shots on goal.
The Express penalty killing had a bounce back night after getting torched the previous 4 outings killing off all 3 Prince George power plays. The Express power play struck once on their 3 advantages.
They will have a day of rest before playing host to the Vernon Vipers Sunday afternoon.
A solid contribution from the top 3 lines and steady goaltending from Gordie Defiel paced the Express on this night.
8 of the top 9 forwards hit the scoresheet for the Express. The only forward of that group to not hit the scoresheet was Cody Boyd but made his presence felt with his physical play.
The top line opened the scoring as captain Ryan Rosenthal slid the puck into the Spruce Kings zone, Alex Murray came out of his crease to play the puck and sweep it behind the net. But the Express captain read the play well and picked off the clearing attempt and quickly set up Adam Rockwood who tapped it home.
Brent Lashuk evened it up for Prince George as he took the puck off the boards and cut into the middle of the ice and snapped a shot low to the glove side past Gordie Defiel.
The Express re-stored their lead before the first period came to an end. Marc Biega led the rush into the Prince George end and fired a shot that snuck through the legs of Murray at 18:21. It was Biega's 6th goal of the season and his 5th on home ice this year.
Marco Ballarin pulled the visitors even early in the second period as he had multiple whacks at the rebound of a Sean Landrey shot before lifting it over Defiel just 53 seconds into the 2nd period.
The tie didn't last 3 seconds as Jace Henning broke out of the Express zone and led the attack and snapped a shot that hit the stick of a Spruce Kings defender and past Murray to put the Express in the lead for a 3rd time at 3-2.
Now the Express began to work at pulling away from Prince George.
Bo Pieper blasted home a one timer on the power play on a set up from his brother Canon to put the Express up a pair.
Just 1:02 later Braiden Epp briefly pulled Prince George back within one on a set up from Mitch Eden.
81 ticks of the clock later the Express again were up by 3 as Joey Santucci buried the rebound of a point shot for a 5-3 Express lead.
Then it was the Pieper brothers teaming up again and this time it was Canon banging home a rebound to put the Express up 6-3.
The line of Joey Santucci and the Pieper brothers teamed up for 3 goals and 4 assists for 7 points in the second period.
The third period was fairly uneventful as the Express cruised to victory the rest of the way.
They fired 35 shots on this night while limiting the opposition to just 25 shots on goal.
The Express penalty killing had a bounce back night after getting torched the previous 4 outings killing off all 3 Prince George power plays. The Express power play struck once on their 3 advantages.
They will have a day of rest before playing host to the Vernon Vipers Sunday afternoon.
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