The Prince George Spruce Kings kept pace in the playoff race with a 3-2 victory over the Coquitlam Express on Friday night on the road.
The Spruce Kings got on the board in the first period as Will Moore took the puck from an Express defender in the Prince George end, and exited the zone before dishing it to Nick Metelkin, who would do the rest and snapped one over the shoulder of Andrew Ness to make it 1-0.
Prince George scored twice in 44 seconds in the middle frame. After Metelkin dumped the puck into the zone, Nicolas Papineau went to work on the end wall, finally bringing the puck to the crease and poking it across the top of the blue paint where Moore was waiting and buried it to extend the lead.
Brock Cummings would make it 3-0 off a turnover from the Express as his wrist shot picked a corner on the very next shift.
In the third, the Spruce Kings killed off their third penalty of the game, and were finally awarded a power play at 9:39 after a review. Charles Gravel had been hit behind the goal like by Ryder Riedel, and while there was no initial call, he was given a goaltender interference minor after review.
The Spruce Kings killed off their fourth penalty with 5:36 to go in the third.
Just over a minute later after an Andrew Ness save, Koray Bozkaya got the puck to Cam Russo who went down and his shot slipped under Gravel’s pad to make it 3-1.
With the net empty, the Express got within a goal when Andrej Kovacevic put home a rebound. The net had been knocked off its moorings when Gravel made the initial stop, but no whistle came and the rebound was able to be put home.
Prince George would draw a penalty with 8 seconds remaining in the frame, which gave them the offensive zone draw to complete the victory.
The win kept the Spruce Kings within 4 points of the Langley Rivermen with 4 games remaining. The Rivermen knocked off Blackfalds 5-3 on Friday night.
