In 18 seasons of playing in the B.C. Hockey League, the Prince George Spruce Kings have never raised a banner to the rafters of the Coliseum.
Leave it to the first-place Langley Rivermen to rain on that parade.
Their 4-3 win over the Kings Friday night left the home team's regular-season title hopes considerably dimmed as they restored a six-point bulge they hold over the Kings in the Mainland Division standings heading into the final two weeks of the season.
With eight games left, the Spruce Kings (30-17-3-2) still have one game in hand over the Rivermen (33-12-2-5) but it's going to be tough to make up that ground.
Evan Anderson's second goal of the season, 2:42 into the third period, was the difference-maker for Langley.
The Kings had clawed their way out of a 3-0 deficit with two goals late in the first period and one in the second to bring it back to even terms after 40 minutes.
But the Rivermen found a way to get it done and Anderson was johnny-on-the-spot, getting his stick on a fat rebound on a shot from Matt Ustaski that gave Kings' goalie Alex Murray trouble.
Ustaski and left winger Mitch McLain threatened on numerous occasions, leading a powerful Langley pushback in the third period that kept the Kings pinned in their own zone for much of the period.
In a hard-hitting affair, the shots ended up even at 27. The Kings threw a lot more pucks to the net than the Rivermen and had a large territorial edge in the second period but many of their shots missed the target or were tipped or blocked.
The Kings got Murray to the bench for the extra skater but failed to generate a quality shot. Chad Staley just missed with a one-timer facing an empty net.
"They're a very good team, but I have to give our guys credit to be able to battle back from 3-0 and really be in the mix, we deserved a better fate than we had," said Kings assistant coach Jason Garneau. "When you get scoring chances against a team like this, you have to make the goalie make a save off of it."
The first period started out like a carbon copy of Thursday's game (a 3-1 Kings' win). In both games one team scored the first three goals, only this time the Rivermen dictated the proceedings. Tanner Johnson's long shot dipped in past Murray, who might have thought the play was offside. Marcus Vela and Ustaski added to the Langley total, and with almost eight minutes still to play in the period the Kings had dug themselves a big hole.
Rather than get frustrated, the Kings cranked up the velocity of their blades and started moving their sticks to the right places. Their efforts paid off in two goals, the first a power-play marker from captain Bryant Christian, while the second came off a ricochet that hit defenceman Mitch Eden, who jammed the net and scored just three seconds before the buzzer.
LOOSE PUCKS: Thursday's win snapped a 12-game Langley unbeaten streak and guaranteed the Kings will finish no worse than second, which means they will host their first two opening-round playoff games, March 4 and 5... The Kings host the Nanaimo
Clippers Sunday at 3 p.m.
