The first regulation loss of the season for the Express came in the first game of the month of October.
The Express fell 7-2 Friday night in Salmon Arm.
Salmon Arm got Burnaby behind the 8 ball early. With the game less than than 2 minutes old, Matt Ius got into a fight, that was followed at the same time with Dylan Herold getting into a fight with Matt Puddifant.
The 2nd fight resulted in an automatic game misconduct for the Express captain as he was ejected at 1:33. Salmon Arm wounded up getting a 7 minute powerplay out of it, as Herold was also given an instigator penalty.
Salmon Arm took full advantage of the opportunity scoring 3 times on the 7 minute man advantage. Mark Zengerle helped set up Travis Statchuk for the game's opening goal. That would just be the start of the Zengerle show on this night.
Zengerle then added a pair of goals on that powerplay to put the Express in an early 3-0 hole.
For clarification purposes, the reason the why Silverbacks were able to have the full 7 minute man advantage is because the 5 minute major for fighting was the first penalty in effect, and if Salmon Arm scored in the final 2 minutes of the advantage, the powerplay would have continued. So in essence, the Silverbacks were allowed to score as many goals as they could in those 7 minutes.
Once the Herold penalty had been killed off, Burnaby was finally given a chance to get back into the game. And once it got to 5 on 5, the Express did start to take over.
Salmon Arm took their 3 goal lead into the 2nd period, but the Express were pressing to get back into the game.
And despite the early shot advantage for Salmon Arm due to the extended powerplay, Salmon Arm had just a 16-12 advantage in shots due to Burnaby starting to turn the game once they got back to even strength.
Rich Manley used his size and strength to protect the puck and cut in on Silverbacks goaltender Tony Ierfino who turned him aside.
The Express finally got on the board as Luke Challier put a perfect pass on the tape of Matt Ius who blasted home the feed to cut the deficit to 3-1.
By this point, the Express penalty killing had settled down killing off a few more penalties allowing them to continue to attempt the comeback.
In the final minute of the 2nd period, the Express pulled back within one, Chris Van Dyunhoven sent the puck cross ice to Brad Reid at the goal line who put it on the tape of Rich Manley who had a tap in for his 5th of the season.
The goal for Manley extended his point streak to 7 games. Manley has a point in every Express game this season.
The 2nd period favoured Burnaby and that was refelected with 21 shots in the middle frame sent the way of Tony Ierfino.
The most encouraging part of the Express play through 40 minutes was their ability to not get rattled and execute the game plan in an attempt to battle back. It could have been easy to get frustrated with the way things were developing and let the game slip away. But the Express stuck with it and kept their resolve allowing them the opportunity to try and even it up.
Burnaby began the third period on a powerplay, but weren't able to capatilize,
Moments later came the games turning point, Rich Manley hit Jon Puskar with a stretch pass giving him a breakaway. Puskar however was turned aside by Ierfino keeping the Silverbacks up by a goal.
That chance would prove to be Burnaby's best chance to complete the comeback.
Moments later, Corey Chakeen took a cross ice pass and blasted home a one timer past Harrison May to restore the 2 goal Silverback advantage. Chakeen added his 2nd of the period midway through the period and the game was all but decided at this point. Zengerle set up both goals by Chakeen.
Zenegerle picked up his 6th point of the game sending the puck to the goalline to David Kilip who slid one past May to give Salmon Arm a 6-2 lead. It was the 4th powerplay goal of the game for the Silverbacks.
Salmon Arm rounded up the scoring as Devon Gannon hit the empty net with just over 2 minutes left in the third period. It was a shorthanded goal for Gannon as coach Dave Mclellan pulled Harrison May to give the Express a 6 on 4 advantage.
Final score: Silverbacks 7 Express 2.
Shots:
Burnaby - 41
Salmon Arm - 40
3 stars:
3. Travis Statchuk - Scored Salmon Arm's first goal of the game and also added 2 assists.
2. Mark Zengerle - Was an offensive wizard on this night for the Silverbacks with 6 points. 2 goals and 4 assists..
1. Tony Ierfino - Stopped 39 of 41 shots in the Sliverback crease. Saved his best for the third period stopping Jon Puskar on a breakaway to keep Salmon Arm in the lead.
The lopsided score doesn't truly indicate who the better team was in the game. There were times where Burnaby was dominating. Especially after the Herold penalty had expired and up until Puskar was stopped on the breakaway in the third period. The game would have been a much different story for the Express if Puskar scores on his third period breakaway. Ierfino's play on this night was a big reason why the Exprress weren't able to complete the comeback.
The penalty to Herold obviously had a significant impact on the game and the Express as a group. Strategicially, they could truely establish their game and roll all 4 lines with the Express being forced to play come from behind hockey all night.
There are postives that this team can take out of this game, especially how they controlled the play after Herold penalty had expired and up until Puskar's breakaway early in the thrid period.
The road trip continues Saturday night in Trail. The Express have to put Friday's outcome behind them and focus on playing well in Trail. Much like how they put the bad start Friday behind them and worked on getting back into the game.
Burnaby's record now sits at 5-1-0-1 this season. 2 years ago when the Express last visited Salmon Arm the fortunes were reversed. In 07-08, the Express walked into Salmon Arm and handed the Silverbacks their first regulation loss of the season. Salmon Arm gets a little pay back in 09 handing the Express their first regulation loss of this season.
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