The Port Moody Panthers bounced back from a 6-3 loss last Friday to the Abbotsford Pilots with an 8-2 win over the Surrey Knights Saturday to stay in the hunt for a wild card playoff spot.
While the Panthers are all but eliminated from contention in their own Tom Shaw conference, the are only four points behind the Langley Trappers, in the Harold Brittain conference, for a cross-over playoff spot. Port Moody also has a game in hand.
The Panthers kept pace with the Trappers, who had defeated Surrey 6-0 earlier in the week, by pasting the hapless Knights at Port Moody Arena. The home team got scroing from 11 different players, including three-point efforts from Brayden Szabados, Mark Cherkasov and Christian Bettiol.
Michael Milosavlijevic opened the scoring barrage for Port Moody when he scored shorthanded 3:45 into the game. The Panthers added three more in the period to take a 4-0 lead into the first intermission.
Noah Findlater made it 5-0 with the only goal of the second period.
The Knights got that one back when Michael Penman scored unassisted 4:20 into the third period, but the Panthers responded with three staight before Surrey’s Shaun Simpson scored on the power play with 1:13 left in the game.
Port Moody fired 43 shots at Surrey goalie Brendan Carew while Panthers’ keeper Alexander Kong stopped 28 of the 30 shots he faced.
The win was a nice bounce back from their earlier loss to Abbotsford, who vaulted into first place in the Brittain conference, one point ahead of the Ridge Meadows Flames.
Tetsuya Prior scored two of Port Moody’s goals and Ryleigh Anderson scored the third.
The Panthers are idle until Jan. 5, when they play the Mission City Outlaws as part of the Winter Classic showcase tournament at Richmond Arena.
