The New Westminster Salmonbellies and Burnaby Lakers met at Bill Copeland Arena Friday night for the final game of their season series. The Salmonbellies were coming off a loss to Coquitlam the night prior, but won the first two matchups with Burnaby this season. The Lakers topped Maple Ridge on Tuesday to move within two points of tying Maple Ridge and Langley for the fourth and final playoff spot. New Westminster took an 11-7 win to sweep the season series and improve to 10-4 (20 points; third place in WLA standings). Burnaby remains in sixth place at 4-10 (8 points).
Salmonbellies use early runs to take control
The Salmonbellies wasted no time, opening the game with a four-goal run. Ryan Martel scored 19 seconds into the game, followed by Mitch Jones (1:55). Haiden Dickson (4:28) and Brandon Goodwin (5:53) made it 4-0. Jacob Dunbar broke the run for Burnaby, scoring back-to-back power play goals (10:07; 14:12) to halve the lead. Phil Caputo (15:54 power play) pushed New Westminster’s lead back to three, but Lucas Parsons-Quintiao scored late (17:09) to pull the Lakers within two, 5-3 after the first period.
Another three-goal run in the second period put the Salmonbellies firmly in control of the game. Even-strength markers from Conner Cook (7:13), Preston Lupul (8:29) and Logan Schuss (9:48) gave New Westminster an 8-3 lead. Ben McDonald got one back for the Lakers 30 seconds later (10:18), but they still trailed 8-4 going into the third period.
Can Burnaby still make a run for the #4 seed?
Dickson’s second (1:16) increased the Salmonbellies’ lead to 9-4. Gordie Phillips (4:58) responded for the Lakers, but Caputo netted his second (6:05) to make it 10-5. Dunbar secured his hat trick at 9:53, and a shorthanded goal from Silas Richmond (11:08) cut the lead to 10-7. Unfortunately, Burnaby could not get any closer, and a second goal from Jones (18:47) closed the scoring for New Westminster.
Jones (2g, 4a) was named 1st Star of the Game, while Salmonbellies goaltender Justin Geddie took 2nd Star honors, making 46 saves. Dunbar (3g, 1a) earned 3rd Star of the Game for the Lakers. Burnaby outshot New Westminster 53-42, but Tyrell Hamer-Jackson went 13-21 on faceoffs for the Salmonbellies. In Week 9, New Westminster hosts Maple Ridge on Thursday before traveling to the island for a crucial matchup with Victoria on Friday. Burnaby has three games in Week 9, with two of them directly impacting whether they can sneak into the playoffs. After hosting Coquitlam on Tuesday, they host Langley on Friday and play at Maple Ridge on Sunday. Wins against both Langley and Maple Ridge would potentially allow them to leapfrog both teams and into the fourth and final playoff spot with only a handful of games remaining in the regular season.
