The Chilliwack Chiefs salvaged some good vibes from an otherwise depressing weekend, swatting the Coquitlam Express 5-1 Sunday night.
The Express, owners of a 10-27-1-3 record and losers of 26 straight versus Chilliwack, out-played the Chiefs Friday night at Prospera Centre and deserved better than a 2-2 tie.
Chilliwack responded with an angry first period Saturday night, and led the mighty Penticton Vees 1-0 through 20 minutes on home ice. But their game fell apart in the final 40 minutes and Penticton cruised to a 6-2 victory, prompting Chiefs coach Jason Tatarnic to take his team through a 45 minute closed-door video session afterwards.
Hitting the road for Sunday’s game, Chilliwack took a 2-0 first period lead on goals by Corey Andonovski and Bryan Allbee.
Andonovski assisted on Allbee’s goal and it should be noted that he is coming on offensively, posting five goals and eight points in seven post-Christmas games.
Kaden Pickering put the Chiefs up by three with a second period snipe and added another goal early in the third period.
Coquitlam’s Joshua Wildauer broke up Mathieu Caron’s shutout bid at the 11:34 mark and Chilliwack’s Skyler Brind’Amour wrapped up the scoring with an empty netter.
The Chiefs out-shot the Express 29-16.
Chilliwack comes out of the weekend in fourth place in the Mainland division with a 20-17-2-3 record and 45 points. There’s a three way tie atop the division, with Langley, Prince George and Surrey all at 50 points.
The Chiefs have one game in hand on both Langley and Surrey as they prep for a road game Friday night in Salmon Arm and a home game Sunday (2 p.m. start) versus Victoria.