There was nothing ordinary about Monday night's B.C. Hockey League game at the Coliseum.
But the important thing for the Prince George Spruce Kings was the two points they picked up at the expense of the Chilliwack Chiefs.
As a result of a Saturday strike by the city's unionized workers, the Spruce Kings were playing their first and only Monday home game of the season. In it, they were uncharacteristically loose on defence and overcame those problems by firing up the offence. In the end, they recorded an 8-5 victory and kept themselves in the hunt for first place in the Mainland Division.
"It's always nice to see eight goals, but allowing five goals isn't what we're about," said Kings assistant coach Colton Buffie. "We're a defence-first team. If you look at the stats, I think we have the third-lowest goals-against in the entire league."
Including Monday's result, the Spruce Kings have a team goals-against average of 2.56. Only the Penticton Vees (2.46) and Powell River Kings (2.48) have done better jobs of keeping opponents off the scoreboard.
After a wild first period, the Kings had a 4-3 advantage. They surrendered early goals to Kyle Westeringh and Blake Gober (on a power play) and then answered with a marker by Justin Rai. The Chiefs took a 3-1 lead on a goal by Mathieu Tibbet but saw the Kings respond with three goals in the final six minutes of the period. Christian Weidauer scored on a power play at 14:03, Bryant Christian struck shorthanded at 17:35 and Chad Staley found the back of the Chilliwack net at 17:50.
Kings forward Jake LeBrun scored the only goal of the middle frame, a power-play tally at 16:43. On the play, he gained position at the top of the Chiefs' crease and tipped home a shot by Skylar Pacheco.
The third period brought more offensive fireworks, as the teams combined for five goals. The Chiefs pulled themselves into a 5-4 deficit on a power-play counter by Kiefer McNaughton but the Kings again showed resilience and put the game out of reach on goals by Brent Lashuk (power play), Staley and Christian. Jake Hand of the Chiefs completed the scoring in the dying seconds of the game while Chilliwack was on a power play.
The Kings were boosted by their captain, Christian, whose goals were his first since he suffered a broken jaw in an Oct. 26 game against the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Christian also played Sunday in the Kings' 4-1 home-ice win against the Chiefs and had an assist in that game.
"He really looked sharp," Buffie said of Christian and his Monday performance. "It seemed like he was really back to his form, on the penalty-kill even.
"He got two goals going hard to the net and that's what we've come to expect from Bryant."
Christian and Rai finished with four points each, while Staley and LeBrun had three each.
The Kings outshot the Chiefs 46-38. Goaltender Jesse Jenks got the win and Josh Halpenny, who relieved Spencer Tremblay after the first period, took the loss.
Prince George improved to 20-10-2-2 and Chilliwack -- in last place in the Mainland Division -- slipped to 7-25-1-2. The Spruce Kings moved to within four points of the division-leading Langley Rivermen (22-11-1-3) and have three games in hand.
The Kings practiced on Tuesday and will board the team bus this morning for a trip to the Lower Mainland. They'll play the Surrey Eagles on Thursday and the Chiefs on Friday in their last two games before the Christmas break.
