It's now a best-of-three series between the Prince George Spruce Kings and Chilliwack Chiefs and if the trend continues in Game 5 tonight at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the team that scores first has a great chance of leaving the rink with another win.
In three of the first four games of the BCHL Mainland Division semifinal series, first-strike salvos have been crucial.
The Chiefs got the first goal in Game 1 last Friday and won 3-0, followed by a 2-0 Kings' win in Game 2. In the third game Monday in Chilliwack, the Chiefs were first to celebrate but the Kings tied it later in the second period and won it in overtime when Patrick Cozzi put a shot through the legs of goalie Daniel Chenard.
In Game 4 Tuesday, after a scoreless opening period, the Chiefs got it going with three goals in the second period and hung on to win 3-2.
All four games have been tight-checking affairs. Tuesday's game was punctuated by more penalty calls than the first three games.
Bryan Allbee's point shot, which made it a 2-0 game 10:27 into the second period, was the only power-play goal of the night but the Chilliwack power play, in essence, generated two goals. Defenceman Jake Gresh fired the game-winner, 17:54 into the second period, just three seconds after a roughing penalty to Kings defenceman Jay Keranen had expired.
"We started off slow out of the gate and we were chasing the game most of the night because of that," said Kings head coach Adam Maglio.
"It was a different game than any of the other previous three we've had - there were more power plays for both teams (the Kings went 0-for-5 with the extra skater and Chilliwack finished 1-for-4). I think the second period drained us a little bit with some penalties and trying to get some momentum.
"We got some calls our way in the third period and that gave us some momentum and it was our best period by far. But at the end of the day it's up to us to start a game properly. We didn't like our start and because of that we were chasing all night."
Tonight the Spruce Kings will again be missing Blake Hayward, one of their more productive forwards lately. The 19-year-old will serve the second game of a four-game suspension for his high hit on Skyler Brind'Amour in the second period in Game 3.
Hayward was given a minor penalty for elbowing but the Chiefs submitted the video to the league office for supplementary discipline.
"The video we get, it's kind of tough to tell where his elbow hits and where his shoulder hits. Certainly there is some contact to the head," said Maglio.
Brind'Amour left Game 3 but returned to regular duty later in the game wearing a full face shield.
The Chiefs played the first three games without Anthony Vincent, their second-leading scoring defenceman, when he was suspended four games after the Kings sent the league video of his high hit which broke the nose of winger Ben Brar. That happened Feb. 23 in a regular season game in Chilliwack. Hayward's suspension leaves him out of the lineup for the rest of the series, along with Kings' top-line centre Ben Poisson, who suffered a season-ending spleen injury late in the season, and defenceman Oliver Lester (sprained ankle).
Nick Bochen, 16, played the last two games, called up to the Kings as a seventh defenceman from the Burnaby Winter Club prep team.
"It's a different-looking lineup with Poisson and Hayward out, but I'm not going to dwell on it," said Maglio. "We have guys who can all play and at the end of the day guys need to elevate their game. It's tight hockey and it's a tight playoff series and it's tight both ways. It's about getting the first one and getting momentum from there, because if they're chasing it's hard in this series.
"It's a learning thing for us. We're a young team and we're learning through a playoff series and we're just going to grow from each experience here."
The stellar play of both goaltenders - Chenard and the Kings' Evan DeBrouwer - has a lot to do with the fact neither team has been able to score very often.
The fact the series is tied should not come as a surprise. The teams played each other eight times during the regular season and although the Kings won seven and tied one, they met four times in February and three of them were one-goal games (all won by Prince George). The other was a two-goal Kings' victory, with an empty-netter.
Overtime in Game 3 would not have been possible without Chays Ruddy's goal in the second period, the first BCHL goal for the 20-year-old Spruce King defenceman, who joined the Kings this season after playing in the past two RBC Cup national championships for the Trenton (Ont.) Golden Hawks.
"He can shoot a puck, I'm really surprised that's his first," said Maglio, "It was well-deserved, Chays has been a warrior for us all year. He competes so hard and does so many good things without the puck. That was a big goal."
Game time tonight is 7 p.m.
The Chiefs will host Game 6 Saturday in Chilliwack. If Game 7 is required, the series finale will be played Sunday night in Prince George.
