On Thursday night the New Westminster Salmonbellies faced off against the Burnaby Lakers. Thursday’s game went much differently than the first meeting between these two teams as the game was a defensive struggle which New Westminster won 8-5.
The game started well for Burnaby as they jumped out to a 1-0 lead but New Wesminster responded by scoring 3 straight goals to take the lead. The score was 3-1 after the first period. In the second period Burnaby fought back scoring 3 straight goals to tie the game 4-4 New Westminster though responded with a flurry of their own scoring 3 goals to make the score 7-4. In the Third period New Westminster added a goal to increase their lead to 8-4. Burnabyscored a goal and looked to make a comeback but New Westminster’s defense shut them down. New Westminster won the game 8-5 which improves their record to 5-4 on the season. With the loss Burnaby falls to 4-4-2 on the season.
Burnaby from the very beginning of this game were unable to generate offense due to New Westminster’s stellar defense. New Westminster was able to shut down Burnaby offense and hold Burnaby’s biggest offensive weapon Scott Jones to just 1 goal and an assist on the night. Burnaby’s lone bright spot on offense was Clark Colton who had 3 goals and an assist. Burnaby was also able to find success on the power play as they went 3 for 6 on the man advantage. Colton earned the 3rd star of the game for his performance. Burnaby struggled without the help of Dane Stevens on offense and their defense was unable to find a way to slow down New Westminster’s offense. Burnaby will need to find a solution to their struggling offense as this is the second straight game in which they have only scored 5 goals. Burnaby needs to find a way to score or else they will see themselves start to fall quickly in the standings. Burnaby’s next game is Friday night against the Coquitlam Adanacs.
The New Westminster Salmonbellies played an excellent game tonight. New Westminster showed great improvement on defense tonight as they were able to shut down Burnaby’s offense and limit Burnaby’s shots on net. New Westminster saw Tyler Richards have the best game of his season so far as he stopped 37 of 42 shots and frustrated Burnaby’s offense all night. New Westminster was powered on offense by great performances from Ilija Gajic and Sean Robinson. Gajic had 2 goals and an assist and earned 1st star of the game. Robinson had 3 goals on the night and earned 2nd star of the game for his performance. Tonight was New Westminster’s best defensive performance of the year and if they can keep up this type of defensive play they will continue to find success. One of the weak points tonight though in New Westminster’s game was their penalty kill as they allowed Burnaby to go 3 for 6 on the power play. New Westminster needs to improve their penalty kill or they will get picked apart by teams like Langley. With the win New Westminster moves into a tie for second place in the WLA. New Westminster will next be in action Friday night as they face the Victoria Shamrocks in what should be an epic game.
