The Prince George Spruce Kings scored three goals in the first two periods of the game and hung on the rest of the way to defeat the Langley Rivermen 3-2 Tuesday night in Game 6 of a first-round B.C. Hockey League playoff series at the Coliseum.
The Kings won the best-of-seven Mainland Division semifinal series 4-2 and now advance to the second round of the playoffs that begin Friday in Chilliwack.
It's the first time since the 2004-05 season that the Kings have won a playoff series.
In 14 games this season between Prince George and Langley, neither club had won back-to-back games, until Tuesday when the Kings won two-straight. The Kings edged the Rivermen 5-4 in overtime in Game 5 Monday in Langley.
Tuesday at the Coliseum, Braiden Epp
gave the Kings a 3-1 lead when he took a shot on a rebound from the top of the crease and beat Langley netminder Bo Didur up high on his glove side with six minutes left in the second period.
In the third, Jacob Kearley made it a one-goal game with just over a minute left to play, but the Kings hung on for the win and received a standing ovation from the fans.
After Langley opened the scoring on a power play goal from Ben Butcher at the 6:29 mark of the first period, Kings forward Brogan O'Brien scored twice in a two-minute span.
Kings netminder Jesse Jenks swept aside 31 of 33 shots he faced, while Didur stopped 22 of 25 shots.
The Kings were without defenceman Viktor Drombrovskiy who suffered an upper body injury Monday in Langley. They were also without forward Jarryd Leung for the second-straight game after he suffered an upper body injury Saturday night in Prince George.
In their place were affiliate players Kolten Carpenter and Trevor Pereverzoff.
The second-round playoff series begins Friday in Chilliwack, continues Saturday with Game 2 in the Fraser Valley city and returns to Prince George on Monday and Tuesday for Games 3 and 4.
