Washington scores OT winner, Khan makes 51 saves in victory

Cashton Hemsworth (#77) congratulates Jameson Reed (centre) following a first-period goal during the Langley Thunder's overtime victory over the Burnaby Lakers on May 14 in BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League action at Langley Events Centre. Ryan Molag photo

Xavian Washington scored the only goal of the 10-minute overtime period while goaltender Caleb Khan stopped all eight shots he faced in the extra frame as the Langley Thunder defeated the Burnaby Lakers 11-10.

The two teams were playing on Tuesday night at Langley Events Centre with the victory improving the Thunder to 2-1 on the BC Junior Tier 1 Lacrosse League season while the loss dropped the Lakers to 1-4.

The Thunder had a great start to the game, scoring three times in the opening three minutes and leading 4-3 after a period. Tied at seven late in the middle frame, Langley again displayed a quick-strike offence with a trio of goals in 13 seconds to take a 10-7 lead into the intermission. The Lakers would strike back, however, with the only three goals of the third period, setting the stage for overtime where Washington’s goal at the 2:15 mark stood as the winner.

“What we preach is that we do it in threes, it is one period at a time, and we won two out of the three tonight,” said Thunder coach Darren Buchan.

“I liked the fight in our team. I felt the floor was tilted a little bit in the third period and they (Burnaby) really started to press, but we didn’t quit.

“This team is so young the highs are really high, and the lows are really low. But by the time we got to overtime it was even. The D played D and the O found a way. And then we held on to the one-goal lead for a long time because everyone was just doing their job.”

Buchan was also happy the team cleaned up their transition game as they allowed five goals in transition in their most recent contest, a 10-4 loss on May 3 to the Delta Islanders

Brayden Longacre led the offence with four goals and six points, while Mac Timms scored twice with Jake Newby, Logan Kierstead, Nigel Nowak and Jameson Reed scoring the others.

Connyr Welch had three assists to help quarterback the offence while the Thunder were also helped by the season debut of Jake Newby, who finished with a goal and an assist. With an offence relying heavily on first-year juniors – Washington, Nowak and Reed’s goals were the firsts of their junior careers – Newby was able to create space and opportunities for his younger teammates.

In goal, Khan finished with 51 saves (.836 save percentage) as Langley was outshot 61-47. Max Larsen (3-1), Daniel Battisin (2-1) and Kaden Urquhart (2-1) led the Burnaby offence with goaltender Aaron Price finishing with 36 saves.

After 10 days between games, Langley has a busy weekend with road games on May 16 against the Port Coquitlam Saints and May 18 against the New Westminster Salmonbellies. The team’s next home game at Langley Events Centre in May 21 versus the Coquitlam Adanacs. That game begins at 7:30pm.

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