The Express fall 2-1 to the Surrey Eagles at the Port Coquitlam Community Centre.
First Period:
4:04 in, #20 Ante Zomislic broke open the scoring to make it 1-0 Eagles.
The Express bounced back at the 10:30 mark with a point shot by Cam Moger that beat Eli Pulver to tie the game.
Gallucci at 14:06 was caught for a cross-checking minor and put the Express on the penalty kill, but they killed it off with Manji staying strong between the posts.
At 17:11 the Eagles broke through again with Aaron Schwartz ripping a shot from the slot that got through traffic and found the back of the net to make it 2-1 Eagles.
Second Period:
Early in the period Aarron Schwartz was called for a tripping minor. The Express were able to hold strong offensive zone time but were unable to convert.
Adam Manji came up huge with massive saves including batting a puck out of mid air with his stick, preventing a goal.
At 15:36 Evan Brown picked up a slashing minor, and with 1 second left in his penalty, Cam Moger picked up a cross-checking minor. Both would be killed off.
Third Period:
The third period saw chances going back and forth but a lack of high danger opportunities, and the one’s the Express did generate, we were unable to get a stick on the end of it to put the puck away.
No penalties in the third allowed the teams to play a hard game, and with just under 2 minutes left, the Express pulled Adam Manji.
The Express were able to hold the zone and create chances, but puck luck and a strong defensive showing stifled their offense and ability to score.
Post Game Thoughts:
This was a very close game that was mainly a battle between the pipes. Eli Pulver saved 40 shots of 41, and Adam Manji saved 29/31 with a couple of key saves to keep the game within reach.
The Express were able to be creative offensively, but lacked the scoring touch tonight as pucks would evade their stick in front of the net despite multiple tap in opportunities.
#FullSteamAhead | #RunThisTown
