The Express have their season underway and completed their home opener against the Prince George Spruce Kings last night.
First Period
As expected, the game was physical from the start as teams looked to establish their presence and get set into the game.
An early roughing penalty by Austin Fraser put the Express on the powerplay within the first 3 minutes, however, this was soon negated by a Jason Galucci slash at centre ice as the Express tried to break into the offensive zone.
At 17:30 the Express were called for Too Many Men, but were able to kill it off and remain 100% on the penalty kill.
The Spruce Kings were all over the ice after that finishing the period with 15 shots to the Express 5. An outstanding first period performance by Express Goaltender Adam Manji kept the score level after 20 and helped to build momentum for the team going into the second period.
Second Period
At 4:53 Spruce Kings John Herrington opens the scoring with a quick slot shot to beat Manji short side making it 1-0.
The Express didn’t let this deter them and they were able to push the pace into the Spruce Kings zone more. They were finding opportunities and getting shots through, but to the Spruce Kings credit, blocked shots were a big part of their defensive game.
At 8:08 the Express saw their first powerplay as Ty Gagno was called for interference. They were able to get set up but didn’t see many high-danger scoring opportunities. This penalty was killed off but a high-stick call at 11:25 by Charlie Banquier gave them another opportunity to capitalize. The result was the same as before with a few looks but being unable to put the puck in the net.
Despite allowing a goal, this was a strong bounceback period for the Express as shots began to level out at 16-22 in favour of the Spruce Kings.
Third Period
At 2:37 John Herrington potted his second of the game with a top corner backhand shot that beat Manji glove side. This put the momentum heavily in favour of the Spruce Kings and we saw the physicality of the game really shine through after.
At 3:15 Express #12 Colton Alexander was given a 5 Minute Major and a Game Misconduct for a blow to the head. This put the Express on their heels being a man down for 5 minutes, but they managed to hold off and keep it 2-0.
The relentless forechecking of the Spruce Kings kept the Express hemmed into their own zone as their breakout passes weren’t sharp enough to move the puck up the ice.
This period was all Spruce Kings and they finished it off with an empty netter by Linden Makow to make it 3-0 Spruce Kings. Final shots on goal were 38-24 in favour of Prince George.
