Was there a question about parity in the B.C. Hockey League this season? Just ask the Victoria Grizzlies.

For the second time in as many games, the Grizzlies fell victim to the lowly Coquitlam Express, who moved out of the Coastal Conference basement with a 3-2 victory over the Grizzlies on Friday night at Bear Mountain Arena.

“We just didn’t score. As a coaching staff, what do you say?” said Grizzlies assistant coach Len Barrie. “We were real happy with the effort — we outshot and out-chanced them.

“We’ve just just got to bear down and score [against Surrey].”

With Nanaimo beating Cowichan Valley 4-1 on Friday, the Grizzlies are now tied with the Clippers for fourth place, and take on the second-place Surrey Eagles tonight, starting at 7:15 at Bear Mountain Arena.

For the young Express, the win gave them a two-point advantage over Cowichan Valley in the battle for the final playoff spot in the conference. The squad was jubilant at the buzzer, being far more familiar with close ones that got away. Their record includes nine overtime losses and a tie.

“That’s 10 points,” Express coach Jon Calvano said. “If we had those points we’d be tied with Victoria.

“We feel we can compete with any team down the stretch.”

The Express defeated the Grizzlies 4-3 last weekend, and proved to be every bit as stubborn on Friday.

Working from behind the net, Grizzlie Kyle St. Denis opened the scoring at 6:02, and it wasn’t until 12:41 of the first period, with shots 9-0 for Victoria, that the Express even got near Grizzlies goaltender Matt Ginn. The shot, however, landed in the Victoria net and tied the game 1-1.

St. Denis got his second on a bouncing puck right at the first-period buzzer, but the Grizzlies couldn’t hold onto that lead, either.

It wasn’t that the Grizz didn’t get any more bounces, they just couldn’t hit the net on chance after chance to bury the puck behind rookie Coquitlam goalie Khaleed Devji. By the time the Victoria pucks found their mark, Devji was up for the onslaught.

“You’ve got to give them credit,” Barrie said, adding Massimo Lamacchia, who was with the Grizzlies briefly last season, was terrific. “The kid played great.”

Lamacchia was almost at the blue-line when he tied the game again at 7:39 of the second, and he gave the visitors a 3-2 lead at 19:08.

As well as losing the lead in the middle frame, the Grizzlies also lost defenceman Graeme Strukoff, after he drove a hard check into Express captain Garrick Perry. Strukoff went off with a leg injury, and Perry, just back from injury, went straight to the dressing room favouring his shoulder.

The Grizzlies outshot the Express 16-7 in the third period, and 35-27 overall, but Coquitlam wasn’t giving this one away.