Braiden Epp doesn't know the meaning of the word quit.
Neither do his Prince George Spruce Kings teammates.
Down 4-2 to the Coquitlam Express with seven minutes gone in the third period, Epp triggered a four-goal explosion with his first of two goals as the Kings rallied to a 6-4 triumph over their BCHL Mainland Division rivals.
The Kings scored three goals with less than five minutes remaining and Epp, an 18-year-old Prince Geprge minor hockey product, notched the winner, blasting in a loose puck in the slot on the power play with 57 seconds remaining. That came just after Jake LeBrun deflected in a power-play shot directed at the net by Jeremiah Luedtke, who finished with four assists.
Raymond Grewal added to the total with an empty-netter.
The win improved the Kings' first-place record to 16-11-0-2 and dropped fourth-place Coquitlam (9-14-1-4) 11 points back of Prince George.
Alex Brooks-Potts made 22 saves for his seventh win of the season as the Kings outshot the Express 37-24.
But for much of the game, it looked like Coquitlam was going to draw first blood in the two-game weekend series. Corey Mackin, the BCHL scoring leader with 46 points in 28 games, kept up his torrid pace with a goal and an assist and his linemate Brett Supinski contributed a goal and two assists to help stake the Express to a two-goal lead.
With the Kings ahead 2-1 in the second period, Supinski set up linemate Brendan Lamont for the tying goal and Mackin fed Lamont a few minutes later for the go-ahead shot, a centring attempt that deflected into the Prince George net off the stick of Kings forward Cole Todd.
Supinski's third point of the night came late in the second period while killing a penalty when he intercepted at the puck from Luedtke at the Kings' blueline and fed Mackin for a one-timer.
The game began ominously for the Kings when defenceman Stephen Penner got caught not moving his feet fast enough as the lone man back and Supinski was able to pick the puck off his stick and fired a high shot in. But less than three minutes later Penner atoned for his mistake and wired a slapshot from the point into the net, set up after some sustained pressure and quick puck movement instigated by Luedtke,
Playing without his usual linemates Justin Rai (sidelined with an upper-body injury) and Chad Staley (ankle sprain), Luedtke took it upon himself to set the example for the rest of the Kings' forwards. His energy bursts left him plenty of open ice and that led to numerous scoring chances for the 20-year-old native of Lynwood, Wash.
Missing the sniping ability of Rai, Staley and Jarryd Leung (hand injury) the Kings were without three of their top scorers and also had holes to fill on defence with blueliners Ryan Fritz and Valik Chichkin suspended. It got even worse for the Kings when they briefly lost left winger Rider Stoglin when he got flattened by a vicious high hit from Express forward Cody Boyd, who came off the bench to knock Stoglin down backwards on his head. Boyd wasn't penalized on the play. Stoglin did return to the game late in the second period.
The teams meet again tonight at 7 at the Coliseum.
