Lakers share first with win over A's

Burnaby's third consecutive victory lifted the Lakers into a tie for first place following a 9-5 win over Coquitlam on Friday.

The Lakers win was also the club's third in a row at home and improved their record in the Western Lacrosse Association to 7-3-1, tying them with Victoria, who beat Nanaimo 12-7.

Once again, it was a one-sided third period that ensured the home-team Lakers the W.

Coming into the final frame up 6-5, Burnaby got single goals from Jason Jones, Robert Church and Scott Jones less than four minutes apart, while Eric Penney shutout the Adanacs in the third to chalk up his fourth win of the season.

Penney's play currently leaves the Ontario native in second place in WLA goalie standing with a 7.11 goals against average and a 0.848 save percentage.

Game stars Eli McLaughlin, Dane Stevens and Church all recorded five-point games for the Lakers. Shaun Dhaliwal, Justin Salt and rookie Cam Milligan, with his 11th of the year, also tallied for Burnaby.

Just days earlier, the Lakers came back from two goals down against Langley with four unanswered goals in the third period to win their season series against the Thunder.

While keeping a lead and untimely penalties continue to crop up in Burnaby's game, the way the Lakers have taken over the final 20 minutes is an encouraging trend going forward.

"I think (head coach Jim Milligan) is happy with the wins, the way we're pulling through and really coming clutch at the end of the game," said fourth-year Laker defender Brendan Rouse.

Burnaby never trailed in the contest. Salt gave the home side a two-goal lead in the opening period with his sixth goal in just seven games.

In the middle period, McLaughlin counted his team-leading 16th marker of the season just after a power play expired to re-establish the two-goal advantage.

Later in the frame, Stevens also contributed his 11th of the season to put Burnaby up 6-4. But on both occasions Coquitlam replied less than a minute later to shave the deficit to a single goal.

The next few weeks will be further series of challenges for the senior A Lakers.

Upcoming is a home-and-home series with the under-achieving New Westminster Salmonbellies and opportunity to take that season series, when the two teams meet at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre on Friday, June 7.

A sweep of those two games would put Burnaby in a good spot with upcoming matchups scheduled with Victoria and Maple Ridge to follow.