Spencer Tremblay’s second game in the Chilliwack net was much better than his first.
After giving up four in his Friday night debut, the Winnipeg native allowed just one Saturday night in a 6-1 Chiefs win over the visiting Coquitlam Express. The goalie even picked up an assist, and his puck-stopping prowess was impressive enough to make one think the team may finally have found some stability between the pipes.
Tremblay’s crew led 2-0 through 20 minutes on goals by Eric Roberts and Mathieu Tibbet, and went up three-donut 3:52 into period two.
Rookie blueliner Carter Cochrane got the goal, his ninth of the year, on a Chilliwack power play. Cochrane flew up the right wing, leading a two-on-one rush with Austin Plevy. He used Plevy as a decoy, and fired a low shot past Coquitlam keeper Pierce Dushenko.
The Express got their lone goal at 7:30, with Joey Santucci netting his 11th of the year with assists to the Piepers, Canon and Bo.
But the Chiefs scored two unanswered to lead 5-1 through 40 minutes.
Plevy scored on a Chiefs power play at 11:07, taking a pass from Blake Gober and doing a Bobby-Orrish dive across the goal crease to sweep his ninth of the year past Dushenko.
At 18:57, Chilliwack native Kyle Westeringh took a smart lead pass from Cochrane, burst in on a breakaway and put the puck over Dushenko’s glove.
The local kid added another midway through the third period.
Skating four on four, Cochrane teed up a shot from the left point. A Coquitlam defender trying to block the shot had it deflect off his stick, changing direction just enough to fool Dushenko. Westeringh was creating all sorts of havoc in the goal mouth, and had the puck bounce off him and in.
After scoring his first BCHL goal Friday night, the rookie has three snipes in the last two games.
The Express had their moments.
Cody Boyd came closest to scoring, putting a shot off the inside of the goal post. But Tremblay stayed calm, finishing off a 44-saves-on-45 shots performance that helped Chilliwack to just its third home win of the season.
The Chiefs improved to 6-15-1-2 overall.
The three stars were Cochrane (first), Tremblay (second) and Plevy (third).
The Fortis BC Energy Player of the Game was Tibbet.
Announced attendance was 1,678.
