Coquitlam Adanacs built a 4-0 lead seven seconds into the middle frame Thursday, then something odd happened. They stopped scoring - while the New Westminster Salmonbellies' offence took off.
The 'Bellies out-scored the A's 9-2 the rest of the way for a 9-6 win in a Western Lacrosse Association game with pivotal playoff implications at Queen's Park Arena.
The victory put New West (9-8-0), which hasn't missed the playoffs since 2004, into a three-way tie for third place with Victoria (9-7-0) and Burnaby (8-6-2) and two points behind Coquitlam (10-7-0) heading into the final weekend of play.
With Langley (11-6-0) already clinching a berth, one of those four teams will not make the playoffs, and the tie-breaking methods could get messy especially if all of them happen to end up with 20 points.
The A's, meanwhile, had their five-game winning streak snapped and wrap up their regular season tomorrow (Saturday) versus Burnaby at Poirier Sports Complex, 7 p.m.
Daryl Veltman scored twice and assisted on two other goals to lead the A's, while Ryan Johnson also tallied twice in a losing cause. Other A's marksmen were Mark Negrin and Steve McKinlay.
The 'Bellies outshot Coquitlam 46-43, including 15-6 in the third period in which they out-scored the visitors 4-0.
