EAGLES DOUBLE EXPRESS

Clay Stevenson made 34 saves - Photo courtesy of Damon James

The Surrey Eagles reached the .500 mark (8-8-1-1) Saturday night by doubling the Express by a 4-2 score. For the Express it was their 5th straight setback. Click here for boxscore

It wasn't from a lack of effort from the Express, more so a lack of execution on the power play. The Express finished 0 for 5 Saturday night.

In the first period it looked as if Surrey was going to be the only team to get opportunities on the power play.

Aaron White opened the scoring on Surrey's first power play of the night sliding home the rebound of a Jackson Ross point shot at 1:34.

Just under 6 minutes later the Eagles struck again. Ty Westgard showed good poise as he gained entry in the Express zone and slowed down to look over his options and found John Wesley coming late and he slid a backhand through the pads of Clay Stevenson for a 2-0 Eagles lead.

The Express were called for the first four penalties of the night. While shorthanded the Express cut into the Eagles lead.

Newcomer Josh Bruce broke out on a 2 on 1 with Josh Wildauer, Devon Mussio got on his horse to join the rush. Mussio as a third option played a role to set up the goal as Mussio took a drop pass then slid it to Wildauer who tried to set up Bruce, but the pass hit the stick of Eagles defenseman Perry Winfree trying to get back in the play and in the net.

The first period saw both teams dish out a decent number of hits. Most notable for the Express was rookie Josh Graham. He along with Christian Sanda teamed up to deliver a big hit on Desi Burgart on the opening shift of the game. That hit was the spring board for a good game for Graham who was using his size very effectively delivering hits most notably in the first two periods. It got to the point that the Eagles were looking over their shoulder when number 26 was on the ice. By the third period they were getting a little tired of Graham's strong physical presence.

The Express effort level certainly was there from the Express all night. They started to turn the game in their favour in the second period. Only problem was they couldn't finish their chances. The Express outshot Surrey 14-11 in the middle period.

It was a tough start for the Express to the third period. Wesley beat Clay Stevenson with a slapshot for his second of the night just 27 seconds into the third period.

After Surrey got a run of powerplays in the first period, the Express got their run in the second and third periods. They couldn't finish on a double minor assessed to Jesse Nelson in the second period.

Jonathan Sheardown made his Express debut - Photo courtesy of Damon James

Then the Express got three more powerplays in the third period but couldn't take advantage of those chances to cut into the Eagles lead. Among those penalties assessed was a bench minor and a game misconduct to Eagles Head Coach Brandon West.

Eric Linell did cut into Surrey lead re-directing a Lucas Wong point shot to make it a 3-2 game with just under 7 minutes left in the third period.

The Express hoped that goal would be the spring board that would reward them for their strong play and find a way to tie the game.

It didn't end up to be the case as Ryan Brushett put the finishing touches on this game scoring with just 3:41 left in the third period to make it a 4-2 game.

Daniel Davidson finished with 26 saves to pick up the win for Surrey.

Up next for the Express is next Saturday in Chilliwack. Click here for boxscore