The Kelowna Warriors have made it habit of punishing teams with their power play.
The Prince George Kings learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night at the Coliseum and it cost them a couple points in a 6-4 loss to the Warriors.
Warriors defenceman Kristian Blumenschein's power-play goal 7:52 into the third period stood up as the gamewinner in a seesaw B.C. Hockey League battle which could have gone either way.
Blumenschien's high wrist shot that found the net behind Sam Tanguay, with Kings defenceman Ryan Fritz cooling his heels in the penalty box after he got caught punching Warriors centre Liam Blackburn in the head.
Blumenschein's goal broke a 4-4 deadlock after Warriors' Kyler Hope and Kings' Connor Logan traded goals early in the third period.
The win improved the Warriors' third-place Mainland Division record to 13-8-0-2, while the Spruce Kings (6-17-0-2) remained fifth in the Mainland Division.
Playing at home for the first time in seven games, the Spruce Kings came out flying and built a 2-0 lead after one period.
Pointman Matthew Stief started it for Prince George, taking advantage of a screen in front of Warriors goalie Stephen Heslop as he floated in a wrist shot from just inside the blue line with the game less than six minutes old.
It was the first of the season in 18 games for Stief, a 19-year-old native of Weston, Fla., who played midget hockey in Detroit.
Not long after Stief's goal, Jake LeBrun gave his team an unexpected bonus on a penalty kill, collecting his 11th of the season.
LeBrun, the 20-year-old captain, has been the Kings' hottest scorer the past two weeks, and hard work paid off when he took the puck deep on goal.
Heslop made the initial save and appeared to have the rebound covered but LeBrun somehow got it across the line.
The Warriors have had great success all season in the second period and they came on strong with a pair of quick goals from Rylan Yaremko and Jake Harrison (on a power play) to tie it up. The Warriors ranks second in the BCHL with the man advantage. Yaremko also collected an empty-netter late in the game.
Hope was a constant thorn in the side of Tanguay. The Warriors left winger hooked up with Brett Mennear on a 2-on-1 break while shorthanded to give the visitors their first lead of the night, 17 minutes into the second period. Mennear came off the bench to join the rush and snapped his sixth of the season.
But before the Warriors returned to full strength, Brubacher made it a 3-3 count with a big-league blast from the high slot.
LOOSE PUCKS: The win was the 300th in the Warriors' franchise history... The Spruce Kings are in for another tough test Saturday night when the Salmon Arm Silverbacks pay their annual visit to the Coliseum (7 p.m. start), followed by a Sunday afternoon (3 p.m.) encounter with the Powell River Kings... Fritz played his first home game of the season since returning to the lineup two weeks ago from off-season knee surgery. The 19-year-old from Rochester, N.Y., picked up his first point of the season, assisting on Stief's opening goal.
