It's still two months to the B.C. Hockey League playoffs but you would never know it based on Sunday's defensively driven game featuring the Coquitlam Express and Powell River Kings.
The Express got a goal from Brady Shaw with 3:25 remaining to pull out a thrilling, tight-checking 2-1 triumph before 685 fans at Poirier Sports Complex.
The win improved the Jr. 'A' Express to 18-12-2-2 and into fourth place in the eight-team Coastal Conference, just four points back of the Surrey Eagles and the Kings, who are knotted in second spot.
"[We have] set the bar higher for the second half of the season, knowing it will take at least a .600 winning percentage in [our] remaining games to make the playoffs," Express assistant coach Grant Kerr said via the team's website.
"The team must be reliable in all three zones to be successful."
Alexander Kerfoot staked the Express to a 1-0 margin with a marker on a Coquitlam powerplay midway through the first period, but the Kings' Steven Schmidt evened the count 1-1 early in the second frame.
Shots were about as even as the score, with the Kings holding a slight 32-31 advantage, with Khaleed Devji grabbing the win in the Coquitlam cage.
Last Wednesday, Alex Petan and Zach Hodder pumped in a pair of goals apiece as the Express tripped the Nanaimo Clippers 5-2 in a B.C. Hockey League game Wednesday at Poirier Sports Complex.
Kerfoot also tallied for the Express, who led 2-1 and 4-1 at the intermissions. Malcolm McKinney and Clinton Atkinson dished out a pair of assists each for the winners.
Coquitlam goalie Cole Huggins made 24 saves to scoop the win.
WOLF PACK BLANKS CATS
Nobody wins 0-0. Port Moody Black Panthers best realize that -- and fast.
The offensively inept Express were blanked 2-0 by the North Vancouver Wolf Pack in a Pacific International Jr. 'B' hockey league game Monday at PoMo Rec Complex.
The Cats are now 9-16-4-1 and in third spot in the five-team Harold Brittain Conference.
