EXPRESS MIXLR BROADCAST

Saturday, December 7, 2019

COMETS SNUFF SMOKE EATERS

On Coquitlam Comets night, the Express made the alumni in attendance proud by staying undefeated on home ice with a 4-1 win over Trail. Click here for boxscore

This game lacked some marquee names with Massimo Rizzo of the Express and Kent Johnson, Phillipe Lapointe, Owen Ozar and Powell Connor of Trail with Team Canada West at the World Junior A Challenge.

Chase Dafoe for Trail was among the Smoke Eaters with additional opportunity. He opened the scoring by converting a set up in the slot for a powerplay goal.

The Express used their own powerplay to pull on even terms. Connor Gregga returned to the lineup after attending selection camp for Canada West. He teed up a Will Margel one timer for a 1-1 tie after one period.



Gregga on a a second period powerplay quickly sent a Steven Bellini pass on to the tape of Ethan O'Rourke in front of the net for a tap in and a 2-1 Express lead.



Christian MacDougall was feeling pretty confident heading into the game when I chatted with him in the hall prior to the game. He backed his words up with a strong game personally.

Shortly after O'Rourke's goal MacDougall sped in from the right wing and with one hand on his stick he slid home his second of the season past Logan Terness just under three minutes later.



The Express did a great job Friday really tightening their game up defensively the longer it went along not giving the Smoke Eaters a sniff and sparking hope of a comeback in the third period.

Tyler Schleppe entered the game goalless in his previous 8 games. When the offence isn't there you have to find other ways to contribute. One way to do that is on the penalty kill. In the third period he did a great job to pin the puck deep in the Trial zone to help knock off about 20 seconds of a Christian MacDougall penalty.

Schleppe was then rewarded by teaming up with Brad Ong to dig the puck out of the corner and lifting a backhand past Terness to seal the 4-1 win.

The Express held Trail to just 4 shots in the third period and 11 over the course of the final two periods.

Clay Stevenson made 17 saves for his 20th win of the season. And he extended his personal winning streak to 12 in a row.

The Express extended their winning streak to a season high of 8 games. and they've won 15 of their last 16. The home record improves to 19-0. The overall record now stands at 27-5. They need just one win to match last years total in 58 games.

Wenatchee visits Coquitlam Sunday night to conclude the season high 8 game home stand. 

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