When you’re the playoffs’ last qualifier going up against the BC Hockey League champions, you need to be firing on all cylinders to have a chance for the upset.
Tuesday, with several regulars, including stalwart defenceman Troy Robillard, missing and their lineup bolstered by four affiliate call-ups, the Coquitlam Express misfired their way to a 7-2 loss at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex and a 3-0 deficit in their best-of-seven opening round series against the Penticton Vees.
At first, it looked like the injection of young, hungry players would add just the spark the home team needed to bounce back from a 9-2 pounding the Express endured in the series’ second game last Saturday. Coquitlam showed resilience and fortitude even as the Vees poured 25 shots at goaltender Brock Hamm.
But it was the Express that opened the scoring when Jack McNab launched a wrist shot from outside the blueline that eluded Penticton goalie Adam Scheel.
Jackson Keane got the visitors even just over nine minutes later, but 36 seconds after that, the Express had regained the lead on a goal by Joshua Wildauer.
But any thought the Express could be the night’s little engine that could was destroyed in the second period when the Vees scored five unanswered goals, including a pair each by Wyatt Sloboshan and Chris Klack. The middle period has been Coquitlam’s sugar in their gas tank as they’ve allowed Penticton to score eight times while answering only once.
Jack Barnes rounded out the game’s scoring in the third period.
The game was suspended late in the second period and the players sent to the dressing room with 45 seconds on the lock as medical personnel tended to Penticton defenseman Nicky Leivermann who was sent head-first into the boards on a hit from behind by Coquitlam’s Dominic Davis.
Leivermann was removed from the ice on a stretcher and he’ll miss tonight’s game, but the Vees tweeted he “should have a speedy recovery.” Davis was assessed a five minute major and a game misconduct for his infraction.
Coquitlam must win tonight’s fourth game, 7 p.m. at the Poirier Sport and Leisure Complex, to keep their season alive.
