A pair of losses in a 24-hour span has dropped the North Delta Devils into the basement of the Tom Shaw Conference of the Pacific Junior Hockey League.
The Devils were doubled 4-2 by the Abbotsford Pilots on home ice Saturday night at the Sungod Arena, then fell 3-2 to the Grandview Steelers Sunday evening in Burnaby.
With a 2-5-1 (won-lost-tied) record, the Devils are two points back of the 3-4-1 North Vancouver Wolf Pack.
Special teams put North Delta in a two-goal hole early against the Pilots, and although the Devils held an edge in the play over the final 40 minutes, they couldn't come back.
A pair of powerplay goals had Abbotsford up 2-0 early in the second period. Jackson Surbey netted the first Devils goal to cut the difference to one after 4-0 minutes.
The Pilots made it 3-1 five minutes into the third period, with Colin Catchpole of the Devils replying with the home team's second goal just 57 seconds later.
North Delta outshot the Pilots 28-14 over the final two periods of play, but couldn't get a tying goal. The Pilots scored into an empty net in the final minute to close out the scoring.
Abbotsford was two-for-eight on the powerplay, while the Devils were scoreless in five chances.
The Devils again battled from behind Sunday in Burnaby, and again couldn't get a tying goal despite having the edge in play. North Delta outshot the Steelers 33-20, yet lost their second straight.
Grandview sandwiched a pair of second period goals around a tally by North Delta's Joshua Tresevic to take a 2-1 lead into the third period.
The Steelers scored into an empty net with 39 seconds to play for a 3-1 lead, a goal which would turn out to be the winner as Landen Matechuk of North Delta tallied with 28 seconds to go.
The Devils again came up short on special teams, going scoreless on five power plays and giving up one goal on four shorthanded situations.
North Delta will play twice on the road this weekend. They will visit the Pilots in Abbotsford tomorrow (Friday) before traveling to Port Moody to play the Panthers Saturday.