Spruce Kings Earn Win-and-In Opportunity
The Prince George Spruce Kings heavily outshot the Powell River Kings 44-26 but had to hold on to a 5-4 lead for the last 11:21 to stay alive in the BCHL playoff race, earning a win-and-in game on Sunday afternoon following the Langley Rivermen’s 7-5 loss to Chilliwack on Saturday night.
The Spruce Kings got the first goal of the night on the power play after good puck work around the edge, as Kazumo Sasaki found Owen Goodbrand down low as he slid it through to Brock Cummings who tied Sasaki for the team lead at 18.
In the second period, Nicolas Papineau was held up on his way in on a breakaway, earning a penalty shot. He would go in and beat Vincent Lamberti through the legs to make it 2-0.
Powell River responded just 25 seconds later as Eliot Compton scored his first of two on the night, before Sam Grabner tied the game at 8:40 on a shot from the high slot.
Prince George would respond 31 seconds later to retake the lead as Zachary Hachey scored his first career BCHL goal picking the top corner from the left point.
Sasaki took the lead in team goals at 12:22 of the middle frame, giving the Spruce Kings a 4-2 lead on another five hole goal.
Cummings tied up Sasaki again with his second of the night in the 3rd period, finishing off a 2 on 1 during a stretch of 4 on 4 play.
Just 15 seconds later, Compton got his second of the night capitalizing on a nice pass from Niccolo Mansueto and beat Charles Gravel after walking to the slot.
Powell River got within a goal at 8:39 as Eli Friedman walked around the top of the crease and tucked it home.
The last 11:39 seemed to take forever as the Spruce Kings earned a second penalty shot at 10:28 but Sasaki wasn’t able to finish it.
With the net empty, Prince George was unable to find it, but Trent Ballentyne froze the puck on the side boards to finish the game.
The Spruce Kings and Powell River battle again on Sunday afternoon at 3:00 PM at Kopar Memorial Arena. Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/PGSKHomeOpener