After 28 games without a win, the Coquitlam Express finally got a chance to savour victory last week.
And they enjoyed the taste so much, they went back for seconds the next night.
It’s been a rough year for the injury-plagued team and Thursday’s contest against the Surrey Eagles appeared to be business as usual, with the Express down 2-0 after 20 minutes at the South Surrey Arena.
But an unassisted goal from David Giunta in the second period managed to spark Coquitlam’s offence, with Mitch Newsome burying a pass from Cal Babych early in the third to tie things up.
Surrey regained the lead a few minutes later with a goal from Jeffrey Stewart, but Babych tied the game with a goal of his own, forcing overtime, where Brandon Kennedy buried a goal — again assisted by Babych — to seal the team’s first win since Oct. 21.
Lawson Fenton stopped 39 of the 42 shots he faced, taking his fifth win of the season.
Coquitlam was able to ride the momentum into last Friday’s contest against the Cowichan Valley Capitals, overtaking the visitors 6-3 in front of fans at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex.
Captain Luca Leone opened the scoring and then setup William Lawrence a few minutes later to help the Express to a rare early lead in the game.
But the Caps responded with some goals of their own, getting markers from Haydn Hopkins, Ayden MacDonald and Max Newton. A second period goal from Coquitlam’s Christian Bosa kept the Express from falling behind on the scoreboard.
But the home team was dominant in the third period, taking advantage of two power plays to regain the lead and add an insurance marker. Newsome, Ambrosio and Lawrence all pitched in to round out the scoring.
But the win streak didn’t survive a Monday night road trip to Wenatchee, where Coquitlam was shutout 3-0.
The Wild, who currently lead the Mainland Division with a 33-6 record, pelted netminder Fenton with 61 shots, while the Express struggled to gain the offensive zone. After 60 minutes of play, Coquitlam managed eight shots in the contest.
Despite last week’s wins, Coquitlam has a long way to go if they hope to secure a playoff spot. The team is currently in last place in the Mainland Division with a a 9-34-1-2 record and would need to leap frog Surrey to push Prince George out of the fourth and final post-season berth.
A backdoor option does exist if the Express can move into fifth place and have a better record than the sixth-seed from the Interior Division, which would force a crossover.
The team will play Chilliwack tonight (Wednesday, 7 p.m.) before gearing up for a two-week home stand, which includes meetings with the Langley Rivermen (Jan. 20, 7 p.m.), the Trail Smoke Eaters (Jan. 21, 7 p.m.) and Surrey (Jan. 25, 7 p.m.).
