Five games into the regular season, the Surrey Eagles are still looking for their first win.
But with a pair of overtime losses, the BC Hockey League team is still tied for a playoff position in the Mainland Division.
The Eagles were swept by the Chilliwack Chiefs in a home-and-home series this past weekend, with the Chiefs winning 2-1 in overtime Friday night at the South Surrey Arena and 6-2 Saturday in Chilliwack.
On Sunday evening back in South Surrey, the Prince George Spruce Kings skated away with a 3-1 triumph, dropping the Eagles to 0-3-0-2 (won-lost-tied-overtime loss).
With two points, they are tied for third place in the division with the Langley Rivermen and Coquitlam Express, each with one victory.
The Eagles earned their second point of the season Friday night, but as they were in the first two games of the season, were again outshot by a wide margin.
The Chiefs had a 45-27 edge in shots on goal, but both goaltenders were perfect until the final 10 minutes of the game.
Craig Puffer scored a go-ahead goal for Chilliwack with eight minutes to play, but with just 67 seconds left on the clock, Trevor MacLean scored for Surrey to force overtime.
A four-on-four extra period solved nothing, so the two sides went to three-on-three for a second overtime period. Puffer ended the game with his second goal of the night, capping off extra time that saw Chilliwack fire 14 pucks at Eagles netminder Christian Short, compared to just two Eagles shots at the Chilliwack net.
The game was much more even Saturday night in Chilliwack, except in the goal-scoring department. Chilliwack led 2-1 after 20 minutes, with their goals sandwiched around Ty Westgard’s third tally of the season.
The Chiefs scored three times on just eight shots in the second period to take a 5-1 lead into the second intermission. Their fifth goal, coming just past the midway point of the game, chased Short from the Eagles net.
Backup netminder Daniel Davidson, a 16-year-old Surrey native, played the final 29 minutes and made 14 saves on 15 shots.
Each team scored while on the powerplay in the third period, the Surrey goal coming from Brian Drapluk, a 20-year-old import from Florida.
Chilliwack went two-for-six on the powerplay, while Surrey was one-for-seven. The Chiefs outshot their guests 34-31, and improved to 4-0-0-0 to lead the Mainland Division.
The Eagles seemed poised for their third overtime game of the young season Sunday, but the Spruce Kings broke a 1-1 tie with two goals in the last 16 seconds of the game.
Surrey native Justin Rai opened the scoring eight seconds into the second period, but Ben Butcher of the Eagles tied the score two minutes later.
Rai assisted on Chad Staley’s game winner with 16 seconds left to play in regulation time. Brent Lashuk of the Spruce Kings closed out the scoring with two seconds remaining.
The Eagles killed off their two shorthanded situations, but went zero-for-six while on the powerplay.
Short was again a standout in goal, making 41 saves on 44 shots.
The Eagles will play at home twice next weekend, hosting the 2-2-0-0 Nanaimo Clippers Friday night at 7:11 p.m. and the Rivermen Sunday at 4 p.m.
