PHOTO: Damon James/BCHL
COQUITLAM, B.C. – The Penticton Vees saw their three-game win streak come to a close in a 7-2 loss to the Coquitlam Express on Wednesday night at the Poirier Sports & Leisure Centre.
The Vees started with a strong jump in the game, getting puck deep inside of the Coquitlam end and forcing the Express to defend for much of the opening 10 minutes in the game, including a power play in which the Vees generated three shots but Coquitlam goaltender Clay Stevenson stood tall and, after a media timeout, the Express were able to open the scoring.
After some sustained pressure inside the offensive end, Drew Cooper put a puck to the net from the left point that was deflected by Josh Wildauer in the slot that was met by the left pad of Vees netminder Yaniv Perets with the rebound being potted in by Greg Lapointe to give Coquitlam a 1-0 lead at the 13:54 mark of the opening period.
Quickly into the second period, the Express doubled their lead and took a 2-0 advantage in the game with Lapointe tallying his second goal of the game. The Express forward went behind the Vees net and centered a pass that banked off the pads of Perets and into the back of the net to give Coquitlam a 2-0 lead just 1:04 into the middle stanza.
A double minor penalty for high sticking resulting in the Express going to the power play and taking a 3-0 advantage in the game. Massimo Rizzo took a shot from the right face-off circle that was stopped by the right pad of Perets with the rebound popping out to the left circle as Connor Gregga slapped the puck past the blocker side of the Vees netminder to get ahead by a 3-0 score at the 5:45 mark of the middle stanza.
Penticton started to chip away at the lead and get some momentum going later in the 2nd period with the captain getting the Vees on the board. Colton Kitchen had his left point shot go wide of the blocker side of Stevenson before it banked off the end boards with David Silye taking the bounce and banging the puck past the glove side of Stevenson for his 9th goal of the season and a 3-1 game at the 14:23 mark of the 2nd period.
Jay O’Brien opened the 3rd period with a breakaway and went to his backhand with the puck just glancing off of his stick before the Express used their power play to extend their lead, earning a 4-1 lead at the 8:42 mark of the final period. Bradley Ong took a Will Morgel pass and beat Perets on the glove side in 5-on-3 play to get a three-goal lead.
18 seconds later, Ethan O’Rourke tapped in a rebound after a shot from the left point by Greg Lapointe at the 9:00 mark to take a 5-1 lead as Perets was pulled from the crease and Carl Stankowski came on in relief.
The Express took a 6-1 lead on a rebound put in by Ong for his second goal of the night at the 10:40 before Tyler Ho tallied the Vees second goal, racing down the left-wing before flipping the puck over the glove side of Stevenson for his 4th goal of the season while shorthanded at the 14:52 mark to make it a 6-2 game.
A physical third period came to an end as Christian MacDougall capped off the scoring with 1:04 remaining in the game to make the final score 7-2 in favour of the Express.
Yaniv Perets stopped 12 of the 17 shots he faced in the game in his 4th loss of the season before being relieved by Carl Stankowski, who turned aside 12 of the 14 shots thrown his way. Clay Stevenson made 25 of the 27 shots he faced in his 17th victory of the season for the Express.
FINAL SCORE: 7-2 Express
SHOTS ON GOAL: 31-27 Express
VEES PP: 0/4
VEES PK: 3/6
3 STARS:
1) Drew Cooper (0-2-2)
2) Greg Lapointe (2-1-3)
3) Bradley Ong (2-0-2)
Fortis Energy Player of the Game: Cooper Connell (0-1-1)
Attendance: 489
The Vees (21-6-1-0) return to home ice on Friday night for another matchup against a Mainland Division foe as they welcome the Chilliwack Chiefs (12-8-4-1) to the South Okanagan Events Centre. Puck drop is slated for 7:00 PM with tickets available at the SOEC Box Office as well as online at ValleyFirstTix.com.
