After beginning a three games in three nights stretch with a victory, the Langley Rivermen dropped both ends of a home-and-home series.
The junior A hockey club defeated the Prince George Spruce Kings 5-2 on Thursday night at the Langley Events Centre before dropping a pair to the Coquitlam Express.
The Rivermen sit third in the BCHL’s Mainland Division with a record of 6-6-1-3.
The Express won 7-5 on Friday night at the Poirier Sports and Leisure Centre and 4-2 at the LEC the next night.
In the second game, Coquitlam was ahead 2-0 by the time the game was eight minutes old.
“We just didn’t come out to play and it showed tonight,” said assistant coach Kurt Astle. “They jumped on us early and we were unable to climb back.”
The Express made it 3-0 in the second before Gage Torrel’s power-play goal got the Rivermen on the board.
Matthew Graham cut the lead to 3-2 midway through the third period but Jackson Cressey scored into the empty net for the two-goal victory. Jivan Sidhu, Mackin and Brett Supinski had the other Express goals as Bo Didur allowed three goals on 36 shots.
In the first game, the Rivermen led 2-1 after one period and the game was tied at five early in the third before Coquitlam’s Corey Mackin notched the winner with 12:25 to play. Mackin completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal.
Rivermen captain Kevan Kilistoff led the way with a pair of goals in the loss and he has a team-high 10 goals. Marcus Vela, Colton Kehler and Matthew Graham had the other Langley goals.
Supinski scored a pair while Daniel Fritz had one goal for the Express.
Darren Martin was tagged with the loss, surrendering six goals on 22 shots.
Langley outshot Coquitlam 47-29 in the game.
The team begins a stretch of five games in seven days by hosting Merritt tomorrow (Wednesday) and the Chilliwack Chiefs (Friday) this week. The Rivermen then complete the home-and-home series with the Chiefs on Saturday in Chilliwack and play at the Surrey Eagles on Monday.
They also host the West Kelowna Warriors next Tuesday (Nov. 11) with a special 4 p.m. start time to wrap up the busy week.
