On home ice, Powell River Kings made short work of their semifinal opponents, winning the first two games to take a commanding lead in the series. That’s the good news.
The bad news is after the back-to-back wins, 4-2 on Friday and 4-1 on Saturday, the Kings’ first game in Coquitlam against the Express on Monday ended in a disappointing 3-2 overtime loss.
During regular season, Coquitlam dominated Powell River in the win column with a 6-1-1 record against the defending Coastal Conference champions.
Playoffs, however, are a whole new season and the Kings set out to reverse the trend on Friday night with timely scoring and improved special teams.
On their first powerplay opportunity Daniel Schuler converted a Craig Dalrymple pass from the point and took a 1-0 lead into the second period.
Teal Burns and JP Villeneuve gave them two more while Coquitlam recorded one to make it 3-1 heading into the final period.
Coquitlam closed the gap to one at 8:14 but Jordan Benton sealed the first win of the series with his insurance goal at 13:03.
Villeneuve took a thunderous hit early that threatened to take him out of the game but he returned to contribute a goal and hard work.
“We obviously really wanted the first one,” he said, “but we’ve got to forget about tonight and come back tomorrow like it’s game one again.”
Villeneuve and his teammates did exactly that as they came out with the same work ethic and fierce checking style on Saturday night.
Steven Schmidt was the match that set the team on fire as he scored the first and second goals of the game to give the Kings a 2-0 lead after one period.
Coquitlam threatened early in the second when they scored at 0:39 seconds but Villeneuve intercepted a sloppy clearing pass from Coquitlam’s goalie, Cole Huggins, and dumped his second of the series into the vacated net for a 3-1 lead after two periods.
Coquitlam didn’t have an answer for that one and Cohen Adair completed the scoring at 19:17 to make the final 4-1and give the Kings a 2-0 lead in the series.
Head coach and general manager Kent Lewis was happy but cautious saying, “Like I told the guys, it gets harder every game and the next game will be harder than this one. We’re getting back to our game against this club and we battled a lot of elements tonight. We just have to remain composed and play Kings’ hockey.”
Game three at Poirier Arena started out great for Powell River and the hard-working fourth line contributed an early goal from Tanner Cochrane at 5:31.
They should have had a two-goal lead when Burns drilled a shot that hit the back bar but neither the referee or the goal judge saw it and, despite Burns’ protest, it was waived off.
Coquitlam answered with the only goal of the second and then took the lead at 7:02 of the third when Alexander Kerfoot drilled a perfect shot to the top corner of the net from 30 feet.
Kings looked flat throughout most of the second and third periods but at 16:43 Jon Jutzi flipped a puck into the slot and Villeneuve gloved it down to the ice and then fired it past Khaleed Devji to tie 2-2 and force overtime.
Kings killed a charging penalty called on Burns with a minute to go in regulation but in overtime at 2:25 the Express broke in on a two on one.
Justin Georgeson intended to pass the puck but it was blocked and when it came back to him he took the shot that won the game for the Express.
The win tightened the series to 2-1 for the Kings with game four scheduled for Tuesday in Coquitlam.
The fifth game will be played at 6 pm on Thursday, March 22 in Hap Parker Arena. The game is early due to Powell River Regals hosting Fort St. John Flyers in the Savage Cup at 8:30 pm on the same night.
