JONES SUFFERS ANOTHER INJURY

Bad news about former Express David Jones...

(Story courtesy of Adrian Dater & Denver Post)

The Avalanche has suffered another big blow to its lineup, with news today that right wing David Jones will be out indefinitely with a shoulder injury.

Jones, whose career has been hampered by other injuries including a previous shoulder surgery, suffered the latest ailment in the Avs" final game before the all-star break.

Jones had 16 goals and 12 assists in 47 games for the Avs, who will practice today in St. Louis in preparation for Tuesday's game with the Blues.

Jones, 26, missed most of last season with a knee injury. The Avs have yet to call anybody up from minor-league affiliate Lake Erie.

CHIEFS @ EXPRESS HIGHLIGHTS

Here's the highlights of the Express' 4-3 win over the Chiefs Friday night.

Highlights courtesy of Cary Derksen.

EXPRESS HOLD COURT AT HOME

24 hours earlier the home town Langley Chiefs used home ice to pick up a 4-3 win over the Express. Friday, the Express protected their home ice and came up with a 4-3 win of their own to split a home and home with the Chiefs.

For the second straight night the Express got off to a good start and scored the games first goal when Mike Krgovich re-directed a Matt Hutchinson point shot.

Josh Meyers pulled Langley even in the opening minute of the second period when he snapped a quick shot past Khaleed Devji.

Three minutes later the Express re-stored their lead when Alex Petan banged home a rebound of a Riley Mcintosh shot to finish off a 3 on 2 rush. The goal for Petan was his first goal in 8 games.

Then the game slowed down to almost a snails pace. Josh Hansen tied it for the Chiefs off a cycle play and Hansen poked it by Khaleed Devji.

That goal didn't give the game much of a boost. The malaise continued and perhaps it played a role allowing the Express to go back into the lead. Destry Straight's shot from the wing was stopped, then it bounced off the end boards and handcuffed Chiefs goaltender Cole Huggins who appeared to be caught off guard as the puck bounced off him and in.

In the final moments of the second period Massimo Lamacchia was given a double whammy when he was called for both a slashing and a roughing penalty giving Langley a double minor powerplay to work with for a second straight night.

The penalty trouble for the Express continued into the third when Riley Mcintosh was called for a hook to give the Chiefs a 5 on 3 for a full two minutes.

With the Express protecting a one goal lead, they dug in as the Chiefs pressed looking for the equalizer. This is when Khaleed Devji stepped to the forefront and made a name for himself on this night. He made a number of fine saves to keep the Express in the lead.

Much thanks to Devji's efforts, the Express killed off all the penalties. Then they got an opportunity of their own on the powerplay to turn the momentum in their favour when Josh Hansen was called for interference.

Then came a scare for the Express when Josh Meyers collided knee on knee with Massimo Lamacchia. The Express top scorer was down for awhile, but fortunately returned minutes later. Meyers meanwhile was given a 5 minute major for kneeing and a game misconduct.

That gave the Express a 5 on 3 of their own. Mark Begert extended the Express lead when his screen shot got past Huggins for Begert's third of the season and second powerplay goal this season vs. the Chiefs.

Mike Krgovich thought he added his second of the night seconds later when he tipped home a Riley Mcintosh point shot. But after some discussion, the goal was waved off as it was ruled he contacted the puck with a high stick.

Tim Daly made for a nail biting finish when he blasted home a powerplay goal with 1:25 remaining the pull the Chiefs back within a goal.

Langley pressed looking for the tying goal, but the Express made sure to protect the puck along the boards as much as possible to kill as much time as they could and eventually held on for the win.

The Express did get some help on the out of town scoreboard when Powell River erased a 6-4 deficit to score twice in the final 2 minutes to pull the Kings even with Cowichan Valley. The Kings then completed the comeback to win in overtime 7-6. The Express are now 2 points clear of Cowichan Valley for the 7th and final playoff spot.

The 5 game home stand for the Express resumes Wednesday vs. Surrey.

THE POINT THAT GOT AWAY...

42 seconds... That's how far the Express were from picking up a vital point in the race for the playoffs.

A crucial turnover just inside the Express blue line resulted in the game winning goal for Mike Tebbutt as he scored his second of the night moments later blasting a shot over the glove of Khaleed Devji to give the Chiefs a 4-3 win over the Express.

The game started well for the road team. Mike Krgovich's first goal of the night at 7:30 capped a start that saw the Express open a 8-0 advantage in shots on goal.

From there Langley took over. A too many men penalty to the Express followed shortly there after by a double minor for high sticking to Tyler Griffith allowed Langley to rattle off the next 11 shots in the game. Mike Tebbutt tied the game with his first of the night jamming in a puck past Khaleed Devji in the second of the two penalties assessed to Griffith.

Langley continued their dominance in shots into the second period. Trevor Gerling finished off a give and go with Brandon Thompson to give Langley their first lead of the night.

At one point in the second period, Langley had a 23-3 advantage in shots on goal after the Express opened the game outshooting Langley 8-0 in the first 7:30 of the game.

The low shot total wasn't due to a lack of chances for the Express. At times it was a case of one pass too many. The chances were there for the Express, but there were a number of good shots that were passed up in favour of one more pass that more often than not was blocked or intercepted.

Josh Meyers showed the Express how it was done when you shoot the puck as he took a feed from Ryan Bakken and wired a wrist shot over the glove of Devji to give the Chiefs a 3-1 lead.

When the second period was done, the Chiefs outshot the Express 20-8 in the second period, and in the 32:30 of game play following Mike Krgovich's goal that opened the scoring, the Chiefs outshot the Express 31-9.

The play was a little more even in the third period. Moments after only the second Express powerplay expired, Jason Grecica banged home a loose puck to pull the Express within one. Then just 1:53 later the Express pulled even when Krgovich scored his second of the night blasting a one timer off the rush past Wyatt Galley.

Now that the Express had battled the game back to even. Decisions made with the puck became that much more important for the Express as they looked to at least get one point out of the game.

In the final minute a poor decision with the puck resulted in a turnover just inside the Express blueline and the puck wound up in the Express net off a blast from Mike Tebbutt for his second of the night to hand the Express a gut wrenching loss to stomach.

The Express do remain one point clear of Cowichan Valley for the 7th and final playoff spot. But every single point for both teams in the race means so much in the battle to get in.

With the loss the Express finished 2-5-0-1 in their 8 road games that had only 1 home game sandwiched between a pair of 4 consecutive road games.

There isn't much time for the Express to dwell on Thursdays set back as the Express and Chiefs get right back at it vs. each other Friday night in Coquitlam to open up a 5 game home stand for the Express.

EXPRESS TOP 10 - MOMENT 3

Today we look back at the dramatic comeback that saw Kyle Turris score the game tying goal in the 2006 Royal Bank Cup semi final vs. the Fort William First Nation North Stars.

Click to here to listen to moment 3.

EXPRESS DROP VEES

It was back on the road again for the Express Friday night in Penticton. And it was back in the win column for the Express for the third straight game with a 5-3 decision over the Vees.

The win was a huge confidence booster for the Express as they knocked off one of the top teams in the BCHL.

Destry Straight continues to pile up the points as he helped get the Express off to a good start scoring his 18th and 19th goals of the season in the first period less than 2 minutes apart. The fast start for the Express quickly chased Penticton goaltender Billy Faust in favour of Joel Rumpel after Faust allowed 2 goals on just 4 shots.

Click to here to listen to Straight's first period goals.

The goals extended Straight's point streak to 7 games with 5 goals and 8 assists for 13 points. He also has 7 goals and 12 assists for 19 points in 12 games since returning from the CJHL Top Prospects game in early December.

Brown University committee Massimo Lamacchia extended the Express lead in the opening minute of the second period poking home a loose puck. Lamacchia now has a 5 game point streak of his own going with 5 goals and 7 assists. And he's put up 9 goals and 11 assists for 20 points in his last 13 games.

The Express did all this with not too many shots on goal.

Penticton finally got on the board winning a faceoff in the Express zone to begin a powerplay and Brendan O'Donnell wired a wrist shot through the legs of Khaleed Devji.

Just over a minute later the Express got a key break to restore their three goal lead when Riley Mcintosh dumped the puck into the Vees zone, Rumpel went out to play it but it hit a stanchion on the glass and bounced in front of the open net and Jason Grecica poked it in.

At one point in the second period the Express had managed to score 4 goals on just 8 shots in the game.

It was far from a well officiated hockey game. There were plenty of penalties throughout the course of the game. That included a sequence of 4 straight penalties called that saw the teams play over a minute of 3 on 3 hockey in the first period.

In the latter half of the second period the Express had to weather back to back Vee powerplays when Cody Castro was called for a questionable cross checking penalty. Then Garrick Perry was somehow called for checking to the head when he went shoulder to shoulder with a Vees player.

Perry's penalty came late in the 2nd period and accompanied with an automatic 10 minute misconduct. The Express survived the Vees powerplays and took their lead into the third period. But they had to do it without their captain for the first half of the period. Perry was having another strong game. He was at his best on the penalty killing unit.

Midway through the third period the Express still had their three goal lead, Penticton needing to do something to spark a comeback pulled goaltender Rumpel while on the powerplay for an extra attacker to give the Vees a 6 on 4. Garrett Milan was the Vees 6th man and as he stormed off the bench and got into the play the puck came to him and he wired home a wrist shot to pull the Vees within two with 9 minutes to go.

That goal woke the Vees up and they came with their best push of the hockey game looking to complete the comeback. The Vees came at the Express in waves, but the Express kept on playing strong as the clock counted down.

Joey Laleggia pulled the Vees within one with just under 4 minutes to go as he scored his 21st of the season from his point position as his screen shot snuck past Devji.

One last surge for Penticton looking for the equalizer came up with nothing as the Express held on. Garrick Perry got some poetic justice for his questionable penalty in the second period as he iced the game with an empty net goal.

Click to here to listen to Perry's empty net goal.

The Express win combined with Alberni Valley's 4-3 overtime win over Cowichan Valley now gives the Express sole possession of the 7th and final playoff spot with a one point lead on the Caps. The Express do remain 3 points back of Alberni Valley for 6th. And the Express have 2 games in hand on both Cowichan Valley and Alberni.

Next stop on the road trip is Vernon Saturday night at 7pm.

CLIPPERS @ EXPRESS HI-LITES

Here's the highlights of the Express 6-3 win over Nanaimo on Wednesday.



Highlights courtesy of Cary Derksen.