The Prince George Spruce Kings staved off a late charge by the Coquitlam Express and held on for a 6-4 win Friday night at the Coliseum.
Up 6-2, the Kings were sitting on a four-goal lead until Express forwards Daniell Lange and Corey Mackin both scored with less than a minute left in the game. But Coquitlam's rally was a little too late and time ran out on the clock.
It was Prince George's fifth win in the seventh meeting of the season between the two teams as the Kings improve to 24-20-0-5 with 53 points to remain in third place in the B.C. Hockey League's Mainland Division.
Coquitlam is right behind the Kings in fourth place, 20-25-1-4 with 45 points.
Six different players notched goals for the Kings as they spread the offence around.
After the Express knotted the game at 1-1 on an unassisted goal from Lange at the 3:06 mark of the second period, the Kings went to work with three unanswered goals from Jarryd Leung, Adam Clements and Cole Todd.
Coquitlam netminder Chris Tai was pulled in favour of back-up Braden Krogfoss after Clements' goal.
Brogan O'Brien gave the Kings a four-goal cushion until Taylor Green netted Coquitlam's second goal with 90 seconds left in the second period.
Chad Staley gave the Kings a 6-2 lead 30 seconds into the third period which held until the final minute of play.
Kings defenceman Ryan Fritz scored his second goal of the season to give the Kings an early 1-0 lead in the first period.
Prince George outshot the Express 42-40 and Kings netminder Jesse Jenks picked up his 15th win of the season
The two teams clash again tonight at 7 p.m. at the Coliseum.
