It’s game day!
The Coquitlam Express are visiting the Powell River Kings tonight at the Scotia Barn in Burnaby. This will be their third meeting, with each team having a victory in the season series. Their last meeting, on April 9, saw the Kings walk away with an overtime win. The Express will look to respond tonight at 8:00 PM.
Over their past two contests, these two clubs have combined for 22 goals and you have to imagine that it’s going to start to tighten up defensively over the next couple of games.
With that being said, both of these teams possess some serious offensive firepower. On the Express’ side of things, Ryan Tattle has been leading the charge – he is tied for third in BCHL goals with six and has tallied eight points in the last four games. For the Kings, Josh Kagan has been having an impressive season of his own – he is second in the BCHL goal-scoring race with eight.
It’s important to note that five of Kagan’s goals have come in the two tilts with the Express, including the game-tying and game-winning tallies in their previous clash. The importance of shutting this player down can’t be stressed enough.
Staying out of the box will also prove to be vital. Penalties absolutely killed the Express in their last game as they took eight minor penalties and suffered two power play goals at the hands of the Surrey Eagles. Beyond the goals, the Express just couldn’t get any traction in the game at all as they were constantly having to go to the box and play defence.
On the flip side of that coin, the Express need to continue finding power play success of their own. They possess the second-best power play in the league (30.4%) and it’s helped them chalk up 42% of their total goals so far this season (8).
Danny Pearson is expected to slot back into the lineup this evening and that should add some potency to that first power play unit that seemed somewhat disjointed in his absence.
Get off the tracks – a train is coming through!
#AllAboard
