The Cowichan Valley Capitals handed the Prince George Spruce Kings their third-straight loss Saturday night at the Coliseum.
The Caps, who travelled throughout the night from Langley, defeated Prince George 5-1 to earn only their 10th victory of the season in the B.C. Hockey League and improve to 10-22-0-1.
The Kings, with nine regulars out of their lineup, now fall to third place in the Mainland Division to sit at 17-13-0-3 with 37 points, four points behind second place Langley. The Chilliwack Chiefs lead the division with 46 points (22-9-1-1).
Saturday, the Caps skated out to a 2-0 lead on goals from Thomas Gobeil and Jesse Neher.
After outshooting Cowichan 26-22 after two periods, Braiden Epp narrowed the lead to one when he deflected point shot from Matt Stief at the 10:09 mark of the third period.
Epp's power play goal, his 10th of the season, brought fans to their feet as they tossed gloves, socks, toques and mitts onto the ice that were donated to the St. Vincent de Paul Society.
The Kings couldn't complete the comeback as Sean Harrison, Brodie Smith and Rylan Bechtel each scored in the final 10 minutes to give Cowichan a 5-1 lead and the win.
"It was a tough loss to take," said Kings assistant coach Jason Garneau. "The effort was there in a lot of guys. The young guys, the affiliate players worked hard.
"We're very proud of the way they competed last night [Friday,
3-2 double-overtime loss against Merritt]. It was a big point for us and we deserved to get the win. Tonight [Saturday] we're very disappointed with the result and we battled."
Capitals netminder Lane Michasiw swept aside 42 of 43 shots he faced by Prince George, while Alex Brooks-Potts stopped 31 of 36 shots.
With seven regulars out of their lineup due to injury, the list includes forwards Chad Staley (sprained ankle), Justin Rai (concussion-like symptoms), Jarryd Leung (sprained thumb), Riley Hawes (concussion) and defencemen Alex Stoley (shoulder), Adam Clements (upper body) and Karan Toor (groin).
The Kings were also without newly-acquired defenceman Viktor Dombrovskiy who's playing for Canada West at the World Junior A Championship this week in Kindersley, Sask. and forward Marco Ballarin who served a two-game suspension for taking part in the second fight during the same stoppage of play at the Coliseum against the Chilliwack Chiefs on Dec. 6.
The Kings visit the Lower Mainland this week with stops in Langley on Thursday, Surrey on Friday and Coquitlam on Saturday to wrap up the first half of the season prior to the Christmas break.
"We're hoping to get some the regulars back in the line up this week," said Garneau. "This road trip will be big for us. We talked about it and we're going in with the attitude that in January this [injury-plagued first half of the season] will make us better and stronger because we'll have a deeper team. It will help us once we get everybody back with four full lines."
