The Burnaby Lakers missed an opportunity to distance themselves from the pack in Western Lacrosse Association play.
The senior A Lakers surrendered a 10-8 decision to the visiting New Westminster Salmonbellies on Friday, but rebounded with a stingy 8-2 victory over the Timbermen in Nanaimo a day later.
Dan Lewis earned his second win in as many starts in Nanaimo, stopping 38 shots
Lewis, who stood on his head in an early win over Coquitlam this month, currently leads the league with an .899 save percentage.
Burnaby jumped out to 4-0 first-period lead and extended the advantage to 7-0 after two periods, before Nanaimo found a way to get the ball past Lewis after more than 46 minutes of play.
Robert Church, who led all scorers with four goals and one assist in the loss to New West, was the hero again with another four goals, including a natural hat trick in the opening frame.
Scott Jones, with back-to-back markers to start the middle period, and Alex Gajic at the midway mark put the visitors up 7-0 after 40 minutes.
Church increased the lead with his fourth of the game to start the third period.
At home, Burnaby was forced to play catchup for most of the game and never quite found its rhythm with Salmonbellie’s rookie Alexis Buque between the pipes.
Tyler Richards took the loss, stopping 32 of 41 shots for Burnaby.
Burnaby and New West will decide the season series winner at the Copeland centre on Friday. Game time is 7:45 p.m.
