There was no accounting for the Burnaby Lakers dramatic change in play last week.
Buoyed by back-to-back wins over Langley and Victoria a week earlier, Burnaby looked every inch a contender despite a narrow 5-4 loss to the New Westminster Salmonbellies at Queen's Park Arena on June 13.
But a day later at home against a lesser opponent, the Lakers proved unworthy of its first venture into the national senior A rankings, losing 16-11 to the last-place Nanaimo Timbermen at home last Friday.
Burnaby opened the scoring from Casey Jackson on a screened shot from the left side, but the energy from the game before was noticeably absent in the overall team's play.
Nanaimo finally pulled away in the second period, scoring four times in a five-minute span and opening up a four-goal lead that it built on through to the end of the game.
Both starter Joe Bell and Dan Lewis, who was a game star with 44 stops against New West the day before, couldn't match the play of Zach Boychuk, who had 43 stops at the other end of the arena.
"I don't know, we just seemed to come out real slow and then just couldn't find it," said Burnaby runner Jackson Decker.
Dane Stevens led the Lakers on the scoresheet with three goals and four helpers. Jackson also had a solid night with two goals in a five-point offering. Colton Clark and Shaun Dhaliwal both pumped in a pair of goals from the right side.
But despite some offensive upside, the Lakers lack of defence never gave the impression that a win was ever in the cards.
"We were getting looks and working hard at times," Jackson said. "We're talented, but we're not the most talented team. We have to bear down."
That was a quality that the Lakers showed more of for most of the game against New Westminster.
While Burnaby fell behind 3-1 after 20 minutes, the Lakers had the better of the play in the remaing two periods and, but for the play of Salmonbellie keeper and first star Neil Tyacke, would likely have won that game.
Burnaby moved the ball well against the aggressive New West press, but had a hard time beating Tyacke, who put in his best performance of the season, kicking out 49 shots for his fourth win.
In the second period against the 'Bellies, Burnaby outshot the home team 26-11, but scored just once on Justin Salt's transition breakaway goal.
Burnaby plays a third game in four days against the Burrards in Maple Ridge tonight (Sunday). Game time is 6:45 p.m.
