The Coquitlam Express hosted the Surrey Eagles on Saturday night in what marked the Express’ second game of the 2022-portion of this season’s schedule.
The first period showcased a very evenly matched period with the Express perhaps generating the better scoring chances. The Express took three penalties in the opening frame, in comparison to Surrey’s one. These powerplay looks gave the Eagles a fair bit of life in a period in which they otherwise didn’t look too sharp. The Eagles outshot the Express 10-8 in the first 20 minutes of play, largely due to their extra time with the man advantage.
As it usually does, the game opened up in the middle period as three goals would end up being scored – two for the Eagles and one for the Express. With that being said, the Express outshot the Eagles 23-10 in the period and controlled the majority of the period. They did a fantastic job and sending the puck towards the net and sending bodies along with it – there was traffic in front of Surrey’s net and a lot of it, courtesy of the Express’ forward group. It was newcomer Mateo Dixon who potted his first goal as an Express and got his team on the board in the second. The Eagles took a 2-1 lead into the second intermission.
The Express came out flying in the third period and managed to tie the game up on the powerplay, but the Eagles quickly retook their lead and went on to close out the game 3-2. The Express did have a goal waved off in the later stages of the hockey game, but that’s as close as they’d come.
The Express had a handful of new faces in the lineup Saturday night and they all managed to make an impact. Notably, as previously mentioned, Dixon found his first as an Express. On that note, Carter Woodside made his debut for the Express in net and made some fantastic saves at pivotal moments of the contest to keep his team in the game.
The Express were the better team in this one, but just couldn’t get the job done. They’ll now head into a large break and won’t be back on the ice until January 19.
#AllAboard | #WeAreAllExpress
