A four-game losing streak was snapped by the North Delta Devils, but a chance to start a win streak slipped away.
The Devils doubled the Mission City Outlaws 6-3 in Mission Thursday night, then lost a close 2-1 decision to the Grandview Steelers Saturday evening in the Sungod Arena.
North Delta remains 10 points out of a playoff position in the Tom Shaw Conference of the Pacific Junior Hockey League with a 6-16-1 (won-lost-tied) record.
A four-goal game from Tristan Craighead powered the Devils to the win in Mission.
Craighead netted a pair of first period goals to put North Delta up 2-1 after 20 minutes. He completed his hat trick two minutes into the second period, then Jackson Surbey added to the Devils goal total 10 minutes later for a 4-1 lead after 40 minutes.
The Outlaws scored twice in the first nine minutes of the third period to cut the difference to 4-3, before the Devils pulled away on a goal from Mitchell Biermann and Craighead’s fourth of the game.
North Delta outshot the outlaws 28-27, and went two-for-three on the powerplay. Mission was one-for-three with the man advantage. Nickolas Trenciansky made 24 saves in the Devils goal for the win.
The powerplay wasn’t as effective Saturday night, as North Delta was scoreless on seven opportunities in their loss to the Steelers. Former Devil Marco Romano notched the game’s first goal midway through the first period, then Surrey’s Cameron Seto made it 2-0 for the Steelers with six minutes to play.
Levi De Waal got one back for North Delta with just seven seconds to play. Trenciansky played well in the Devils net, making 35 saves on 37 shots faced.
The Devils will be in Ladner to play the Delta Ice Hawks tonight, then visit the North Vancouver Wolf Pack Saturday.