On Friday night the Peterborough Lakers defeated the Langley Thunder 9-5 to take the lead in the Mann Cup 3-2. The Thunder came out strong in the game scoring 4 goals in the first period in order to take a 5-0 lead after the first period. The Thunder though came apart in the second period as Peterborough scored 7 unanswered goals and held Langley scoreless in the period. Heading into the third Peterborough lead Langley 7-4, Langley though would try and fight back as they scored to make it 7-5. Peterborough would preserve their win by scoring 2 goals to take the game 9-5.
As we headed into game 5 new also came out that Rod Jensen coach of Langley and James Bately of Peterborough were suspended for the rest of the series due to violating the Canadian Lacrosse Association policy. So it will be interesting to see how this will affect Langley and Peterborough in game 6 of the series.
Langley in game 6 needs to get their offensive edge back as the last two games they have allowed themselves to be contained by Peterborough’s defense who has been able to limit their shots. Langley needs to find a way to solve Peterborough’s defense as well as goalie Mike Thompson who stopped 40 of 45 shots on net. Langley needs to find a way to get back in this series as this is a must win game for them. If Langley wants to avoid a repeat of last year where they went home empty handed after losing to Brampton in the Mann Cup they need to find a way to win.
Peterborough has been phenomenal in the last three games of this series. Peterborough started out slow in this series but they have been able to comeback due to them finding a balance between offense and defense rather than continuing to match Langley goal for goal. Peterborough’s defense has been the game changer in this series as they have been able to slow down Langley’s offense the last 2 games which has enabled Peterborough’s offense to take advantage and build a lead enabling them then to focus on shutting down Langley. If Peterborough wants to win game 6 though they will once again need a great performance from Mike Thompson in net who has stepped up in the series. Peterborough will try to end this series Saturday and win the Mann Cup.
Game 6 of this series takes place on Saturday it will be interesting to see if Langley can once again find their offense and regain their form from games 1 and 2 where they defeated Peterborough soundly. In the end though Langley if they need to win they need to find a way to slow down Peterborough’s defense. Peterborough to win will need to continue to balance offense and defense if they can do that expect them to be raising the Mann cup at the end of game 6.
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