The Langley Thunder may not have won their Wednesday home opener, but they gave the visiting Burnaby Lakers a few scares on the way to the 6-4 defeat.

"You can't win too much if you're in the penalty box a lot," noted Thunder head coach Rod Jensen following the game.

The Thunder racked up eight penalties in the first period, before calming down and accumulating just two in the second, none in a third and a single overtime penalty.

But the Thunder did some of their best work while down a man, with both their first period goals, by Athan Iannucci and Alex Turner, coming shorthanded.

In the second period, it was Ryan McMichael with an assist from Turner, and Joel McCready found the net in the third period, tying the game and sending it to overtime.

Former Burnaby junior player Brodie MacDonald had a strong night in goal for the Thunder, earning the game's first star with a 47-save performance.

But the Lakers were in charge for much of the evening.

Laker Mike Brascia scored the game-winner unassisted at 7: 22 of OT with his second transition goal of the early season.

Shaun Dhaliwal potted an insurance marker into an empty Thunder net in the final seconds of the 10minute extra time.

Dan Lewis got the win in his first start in goal, turning aside 28 shots.

Burnaby stars Matt Quinton and Dane Stevens, with his first of two goals in the game, scored early to get the visitors off to a 2-0 start.

Scott Tinning also tallied to keep the Lakers ahead 3-2 after 20 minutes.

But Burnaby's power play went one-for-11 in the game and failed to take advantage of seven straight Langley penalties from the seventh minute on in the first period.

Jensen said that while Langley was showered with penalties, the officiating was fair. He just believes that the referees are being strict and preventing a free-flowing game.

"It seems like the directive now is to call everything," Jensen said.

The Thunder's next game will be May 30 at 7 p.m. at the LEC, when they face off against the Nanaimo Timbermen who walloped Langley in the first game of the season.

sports@langleyadvance.com