Eli McLaughlin delivered a couple of timely goals to help the Burnaby Lakers battle the Maple Ridge Burrards to a 12-12 draw in Western Lacrosse Association action.
The Burnaby sniper forced overtime with 1:04 left in regulation, with the goalie pulled for an extra attacker, and in the extra 10-minute session, punctuated the offence with the last goal to get the Lakers even once more.
The visitors did not always trail. During a good portion of the game, Burnaby had the lead, including a two-goal advantage after 40 minutes.
However, the Burrards, emboldened by last week’s 13-10 win in Burnaby, continued to reply and retook the lead on Kevin Reid’s unassisted marker with five minutes to play in the third.
Cue McLaughlin, who finished the night with four goals and three assists.
Robert Church netted two goals and four helpers, while Scott Jones contributed a goal and three assists.
Also scoring for the Lakers were Joel Matthews, Adam Perroni, Justin Salt and Dane Stevens.
Zak Boychuk made 37 saves in the stalemate.
Burnaby hosts New West on Friday, 7:30 p.m. at the Copeland Arena.
A week ago, the Lakers held the hammer for most of the game but were unable to hold off a dramatic comeback by the Burrards last Friday in the 13-10 overtime loss.
Leading by as much as five goals, the Lakers were overrun by Burrard snipers in the third, where a three-goal advantage became a tie game.
In extra time, Maple Ridge counted the first two goals, then countered with two more after Burnaby’s Shaun Dhaliwal gave the Lakers a glimmer of hope.
McLaughlin and Church both registered hat tricks in the setback.
The loss leaves the Lakers at 4-5, down in sixth place in the Western Lacrosse Association standings. Nanaimo, at 4-5-1-1, currently hold the fourth and final playoff spot, but Burnaby holds two games in hand, and one game in hand on third-place (6-4) Victoria.
The defending WLA regular season champions, the Lakers have added some crucial depth for the stretch drive in the form of defenders Nik Bilic and A.J. Kluck and transition player Justin Salt.
However, now past the midway point of the season, the team needs to turn some of those games-in-hand into wins. The remaining schedule includes two games each against the likes Nanaimo, New West and Langley.
