Trail – The Langley Rivermen earned their sixth win in their last seven games with a 3-2 victory over the Smoke Eaters at Trail’s Cominco Arena Friday night.Marcus Vela’s goal in the final minute of the second period stood as the game winner while Lyndon Stanwood made 32 saves for the win in his first game with the Rivermen.
The Rivermen got off to a great start as Jackson Waniek scored his third of the season just 21 seconds into the first period as a low shot fooled Dustin Nikkel shortside to take a 1-0 lead into the second period. Jakob Reichert notched his 11th roofing the puck far side, top corner 7:27 into the second to put Langley up by two. Just over two minutes later the Smoke Eaters cut the lead to one as the puck deflected off Zach Urban and past Stanwood. But the Rivermen regained their two goal lead when Vela converted for his eighth on a beautiful feed from Darien Craighead from behind the goal line.
The Smoke Eaters made a strong push in the third pulling within one with just over five minutes remaining when Bryan Basilico made good on a quick feed from behind the net. But the Rivermen held on for their second straight win improving to 20-10-1-2 on the season. Langley went 0/5 on the power play while killing off all four Trail man advantages.
The Rivermen will go for a third straight win Saturday night as they finish up their two game road trip as they visit the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
