Everything was seemingly going to plan and then something happened in New Westminster's 13-9 loss to the Delta Islanders on Tuesday.
The junior A Salmonbellies were leading 6-3 and appeared to have momentum midway through the second period, when Delta's Eli McLaughlin woke his team up with the first of his three goals.
"I felt the game was slipping away. We needed to get one back," said McLaughlin, who led all scorers with a seven-point night. "We're a good shooting team and when we get our looks, we bury them."
No kidding. The Islanders responded, outscoring the host Salmonbellies 5-1 to finish the period leading 8-7.
The Islanders were helped out by three consecutive unsportsmanlike whistled their way in the final 10 minutes of the middle period.
Evan Messenger and Tyler Nett, with his second of three goals, made the 'Bellies pay on the penalty kill.
McLaughlin opened the final frame with his hat trick goal on the short man. Delta closed out the period, outshooting New West 24-11 and outscoring its hosts 5-2.
"We played dumb. We can't take (penalties) at that time of the game. They got momentum," said New Westminster head coach Dan Perreault. "Definitely, we'll be cleaning that up."
With senior Luke Gillespie not dressed and rookie Josh Byrne, out with an injury after the first period, New West appeared to lose a step or two in the offensive zone.
The Islanders had no such problem, scoring 13 goals on just 31 shots on goal, including fiveof-12 in the second and six-of-15 in the final period.
Rookie Islander Cody Nass, who currently leads the league with 11 goals and 22 points, also netted seven points, including a pair of power-play markers for the first-place club.
Ryland Hood won the goalkeeping battle, stopping 52 shots in the Delta goal. Salmonbellie starter Ross Bowman made 18 stops before giving way to Michael Flintoff midway through the third period.
Jeremy Bosher was the best of the 'Bellies, scoring his first career hat trick in a five-point outing.
Quinn Smith contributed four points to the New West scoreline, including a pair of back-to-back goals to open the second period.
"I didn't like our shooting," said Perreault of New West's 5931 advantage in shots on goal. "It's a tryout period and a game like this is good. No one is going undefeated this year. It's what you do at the end or the year.
"But we have to clean up the mistakes and build to the end of the year."
New Westminster is off this weekend before getting back in action at Queen's Park Arena on Tuesday, May 14 against the Port Coquitllam Saints. Game time is 8 p.m.
