The Langley Rivermen returned home on Saturday night to face the Coquitlam Express in the fourth matchup between the two teams over the last month of action.
It didn’t take long for Langley to score first, as Tanner Winegard broke in down the right wing and sniped a shot past Express goaltender Ryan Parker for his fourth goal of the season and fifth consecutive game with a point. Langley would take that lead to the first intermission, limiting a potent Coquitlam offence to 5 shots through 20 minutes of play.
Coquitlam tied it midway through the second on a redirected shot in front of the Rivermen net, making it 1-1 with 9 minutes remaining in the second period.
With the Rivermen in control of the game, they would add on another to give themselves the lead on a great tip in by Zachary Benayon, his 13th goal of the season, to give Langley a 2-1 lead through two periods of play.
1:56 into the third period, Aaron Reierson buried a great feed from Sam Allaby into the top corner for his 11th goal of the season and a two-goal lead for Langley.
8 minutes later Makaio Van Tassel would one time a pass from Reierson into the Coquitlam net for his fourth goal of the season and a 4-1 Rivermen lead.
1:10 after the Van Tassel goal, Nick Bianchi scored a phenomenal highlight reel goal as he toe dragged an Express defenceman just inside the Coquitlam blue line and sniped the puck from the left wing, besting Parker from long distance for his second goal of the season and Langley’s fifth.
Coquitlam scored two goals in two and a half minutes to make it 5-3, with a minute to go but Langley scored an empty netter late through Ben Davis to ice it at 6-3, and winning the Rivermen’s second game in a row. This was also the first Langley win against Coquitlam in 8 tries dating back to October 12th of 2024, a massive boost of confidence heading into a tough upcoming schedule.
After the big win on Saturday, Langley rolled into the South Surrey Arena for the first time this season to take on the Surrey Eagles.
Like Friday, Langley scored the first goal of the game as Reierson scored his career high 12th goal on a power play rebound, giving the Rivermen a 1-0 lead with 8:13 gone on the clock.
Surrey would tie the game 29 seconds later, and score another 1:49 later to take a 2-1 lead, a score they would take into the first intermission.
Langley would equalize with nearly 9 minutes gone on the clock in the second period, as Benayon scored his 14th of the season and finding the net for the fourth game in a row, to tie the game up at 2-2.
Three minutes after the Rivermen tied it, Surrey would take a 3-2 lead on a rebound in front with 8 and a half minutes remaining in the second period.
On their fourth powerplay of the game and with seconds remaining in it, Andreas Mikrogiannakis cashed in a wild bounce off the end boards, beating Sharma to tie it up at 3-3 going into the third period.
4:37 into the third period Darius Bachler scored a beautiful goal as he sniped the puck off the right wing into the Eagles net for his fourth goal of the season and more importantly a 4-3 Rivermen lead.
The Eagles scored the tying goal with 1:10 to go, and sent the game to overtime for the first time this season between the two teams.
Both teams traded chances early in overtime, and both goaltenders made good saves to keep it 4-4 early in the extra frame.
Nick Bianchi made a great play to hold the puck inside the Surrey zone, and his initial shot was saved but the rebound fell kindly to Parker Forlin who deposited in tight for his second goal of the season and a 5-4 Rivermen win.
Langley return home for a pair of games next weekend against the Nanaimo Clippers and Prince George Spruce Kings. Tickets can be purchased at https://www.showpass.com/o/langley-rivermen-2/
