They were playing great, and looking great, for almost the full 60 minutes.
However, a late-game surge from the pod hosts saw the Prince George Spruce Kings' lead vanish quickly and ultimately resulted in a 3-2 shootout loss to Chilliwack this evening (April 18).
Goaltender Aaron Trotter was a brick wall for 90 per cent of the contest and would end up matching his best performance of the shortened 2020-21 BCHL season by making 27 saves on 29 shots.
He was even named the game's first star for his efforts.
On the other side of the barn, Mathieu Caron stopped 22 of 24 shots from the Kings in their navy-blue reverse-retro sweaters and turned aside all three shootout attempts.
Zach Gabruch broke the ice at 17:43 of the first period for his inaugural marker as a Spruce King and the 1-0 lead.
The Saskatoon, Sask. product fired a one-time shot after receiving a pass from Corey Cunningham from the left boards and beating Chilliwack goaltender Mathieu Caron on the glove side.
More than three minutes into the middle frame, the Spruce Kings took advantage on an offensive-zone face-off to make it 2-0.
Hudson's Hope product and former Cariboo Cougar John Herrington won the draw and tipped in a shot from Colton Cameron from the blue line to record his third goal of the pod season.
The two-lamp regulation win was in sight for Prince George, but Chilliwack rallied to a 2-2 tie within the final four minutes of the third.
Trevor Longo sneaked a backhanded shot past Trotter with 3:42 left, but then Kings captain Mason Waite took a boarding penalty not long after and led to a six-on-four power-play goal from Tanner Andrew with 1:50 remaining.
The Chiefs forced the first overtime of the Chilliwack pod, but that didn't solve anything.
Instead, the hosts completed the comeback in a shootout for the 3-2 final and the two points to cushion their pod-division lead.
Prince George couldn't score on all three attempts and while Trotter stopped the first two pucks, Chiefs forward Sasha Teleguine pulled a Peter Forsberg-style goal to notch the eventual game-winner.
The Spruce Kings earned one point from the skills-contest loss for a new record of 5-3-0-1 on the 20-game schedule.
Prince George is back in action tomorrow (April 19) as the designated visitor against the Merritt Centennials starting at 5 p.m.
