Coquitlam scored five times in the final two periods en route to a 5-3 win over the Powell River Kings. Click here for boxscore
The win snapped a 4 game losing streak for the Express while also snapping the Kings 4 game winning streak in the process.
Balanced offense and goaltending paced the Express in the victory. The scoring came from three different lines. Chris Tai in the Express goal made 36 saves for the win.
It didn't start well for the Express who saw Powell River take a 2-0 first period lead on powerplay goals by Jarid Lukosevicius and Jeremy Leclerc to put the Express in the early hole. Both goals were the tried tested and true method of pucks to the net. The first goal being a wrister through traffic that found a hole. The second being the puck put on a tee for Leclerc who blasted it home.
The second period saw the Express find their way.
Brendan Lamont got the comeback started by finding a loose puck at the side of the Kings net to tap in his 15th of the season on the powerplay. That was followed 43 seconds later with Brendan Gulka scoring on a slap shot from the right wing to tie the game at two.
1:55 later the Express had their first lead on their second powerplay goal of the period as Brett Supinski took a Corey Mackin pass at the blueline and cut to the net and slide home his 30th goal of the season.
But the lead only lasted 1:53 as the Kings pulled back even at three when Lukosevicius set up Brent Lashuk who put a tap into a gaping 6 x 4. That goal would be the lone puck to get past Chris Tai who turned aside 23 of 24 shots in the final two periods to earn his 12th win of the season.
The tie was broken just over two minutes into the third period when Joey Santucci battled hard to steal the puck in the neutral zone and send in Jackson Cressey who scored on the breakaway for his 9th of the season. That goal turned out to be the game winner. It also assured that the Express would get goals from at least one member of their first three lines.
Captain Joey Santucci finished with two assists picking up his first two points in his third game since returning from injury last weekend in Nanaimo.
The final outcome hung in the balance with just over 8 minutes remaining in the third period.
Brendan Lamont was high sticked behind the Express net, Cole Bevan came to his teammate's defence and he was the only player penalized getting assessed 7 minutes of penalties and nothing for Powell River giving them all that time to use on the powerplay to look for the equalizer having already struck twice on the night on the powerplay.
But what will leave Kings Head Coach Kent Lewis fuming at the end of the night will be seeing his team squander a significant chunk of the extended powerplay by taking two separate minor penalties forcing the Express to kill off only 3 minutes of the Bevan penalties instead of the full 7.
Corey Mackin sealed the win for the Express when he stole the puck and put it into an empty net for his 38th of the season and 7th shorthanded goal on the year. Mackin is now tied with Kyle Turris for most shorthanded goals scored in a season with 7 set in the Express national championship season of 05-06. The BCHL scoring leader finished with a goal and an assist and now has 71 points on the season.
Up next the Express are back on the road Saturday night in Vernon, then trekking even further north to play Sunday afternoon in Prince George.
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