Braiden Epp got a little bit wild with his celebration of the go-ahead goal Sunday afternoon against the Coquitlam Express and it led to a few dicey moments for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
In the heat of the moment, Epp raised his stick and inadvertently brought it down the shinpad of an Express player right after linemate Jeremiah Luedtke had given the Kings a 5-4 lead, with just 1:40 left in the third period.
That gave the Express a power play with 100 seconds to try to tie it up. With Epp stewing in the box, the Kings' penalty-killers led by Chad Staley, stopped the Express attack dead in its tracks. A neutral-zone turnover sprung defenceman Cole McCaskill into the clear and with 30 seconds left the 18-year-old from Kamloops flipped the puck into the empty net to lock away a 7-5 victory.
Epp turned in the most productive game of his two-season BCHL career, spicing the Kings offence with three goals and two assists. Epp's third goal of the game early in the third period on a power play gave the Kings a 4-3 lead but Coquitlam centre Brett Supinski took care of that by scoring the next two goals, his third and fourth of the game gave the Express its first lead with only seven minutes left.
Less than two minutes later, McCaskill was in the right place at the right time deep in the Coquitlam zone to pounce on a loose puck and rifled a shot through the legs of goalie Chris Tai. He now has three goals in seven games with the Kings since being acquired three weeks ago in a future considerations deal from the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
"When they scored their go-ahead goal, nobody got down on the bench and nobody got on each other -- we wanted to battle back and I was lucky to get the bounce and get the goal," said McCaskill.
"The first one bounced in front and I closed my eyes and it went in. Before I got here I couldn't buy a goal and now things are starting to look up and I'm excited. I'm playing a lot more here, so I like it."
The win gave the third-place Kings (20-19-0-4) some breathing room over fourth-place Coquitlam (16-24-1-4) in the BCHL Mainland Division standings. The Kings ended a six-game losing streak Thursday with an 8-3 win over Salmon Arm but took a step backwards Saturday, losing 6-3 to the Victoria Grizzlies at the Coliseum. Brett Gruber scored twice for Victoria and Dane Gibson had a goal and two assists. McCaskill, Luedtke and Cole Todd replied for the Kings.
"We're in a tough position here in the standings after losing a couple games and it was nice to win this one - they're right behind us in the standings so it was big two points," said Epp. "I just got the bounces this game. The puck fell right in the crease for me to bang it in and my linemates [Luedtke and Todd] gave me the puck."
Kings 17-year-old homebrew centre Brogan O'Brien scored a goal and picked up two assists - matching his best offensive output this season. Daniell Lange collected the other Coquitlam goal.
LOOSE PUCKS: O'Brien will be traveling today to Oakville, Ont., to play in the CJHL Top Prospects Game on Tuesday. Following that game, O'Brien will visit the Clarkson University campus on a fly-in recruitment visit...The Kings injury woes continue. Already resigned to the fact they've lost two of their best players for the rest of the season -- Dartmouth recruit D Karan Toor (groin) and Maine prospect C Justin Rai (concussion), RW Jake LeBrun went down with a wrist injury in Thursday's game against Salmon Arm. He joined F Daniel Nachbaur (broken finger), and D Ryan Fritz (knee injury) on the sidelines. D Trevor Pereverzoff played for the Kings in their three weekend games on loan from the junior B Princeton Posse... The Kings host the Surrey Eagles in a doubleheader Thursday and Friday at the Coliseum.
