The Clippers got down 2-0 early and never could come all the way back against Coquitlam in a 6-4 loss on Wednesday.
Taylor Bourne scored a fluke goal from the corner to open the scoring at 8:23 of the first and then Dante Godhino converted a pass from Alex Kerfoot to put Coquitlam up to stay.
Graeme McCormack's power play tally at 15:39 closed the gap but a burst of speed off the left wing by Alex Kerfoot lead to the 3-1 goal just a minute and six seconds later.
In the second period the Express went up 4-1 on a power play goal by John Siemer at 1:50 and that chased Billy Faust from the net, making way for Chris Eiserman.
Eiserman was beaten on a bank shot by Zach Hodder on another Coquitlam man advantage at 10:34.
Nanaimo came alive after that with a goal by Graeme McCormack at 16:17 to make it 5-2 after two.
Then Josh Bryan scored from a stiff angle 47 seconds into the third and Luke Gordon scored top shelf at 6:44 on Cole Huggins to put the Clippers down by one.
The Express got another bounce when John Siemer capped the scoring from behind the net at 12:01.
Nanaimo went 1/4 on the power play and Coquitlam was 2/4, both teams finished with 42 shots.
Wednesday's Three Stars were 1) Alex Kerfoot 2) John Siemer 3)Graeme McCormack
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