The Prince George Spruce Kings clinched a playoff spot on their B.C. Hockey League three-game road swing through Vancouver Island last weekend.
That's despite winning only one of their three games on the trip, a 6-4 victory over the Cowichan Valley Capitals Saturday.
That win, with only 16 games remaining in the regular season, allowed them to nab a playoff spot in the BCHL's Mainland Division.
"That's a double-edged sword in the the job we had to do," said Kings head coach Dave Dupas Sunday after suffering a 4-1 loss in Nanaimo. "We can't get complacent though and we can't have that mentality [of having too many bad starts] as we go down the stretch.
"We're going to have to challenge teams really early and keep our focus."
Spruce Kings are now 25-16-2-2 with 54 points and remain in second place in the division behind the Langley Chiefs.
Prince George opened their Island road trip with a 5-4 loss to Victoria Grizzlies.
"We had slow starts, that's the way this whole road trip went," Dupas said. "We even had trouble with Cowichan too and [Spruce Kings goalie] Jesse [Jenks] held down the fort."
Clippers clipped the Spruce Kings 4-1 in a matinee tilt Sunday. Nanaimo scored all four of goals in the first period, including a short-handed and power play goal, to chase Prince George's starting netminder Jenks out of the crease.
Alex Murray replaced Jenks in net and stopped all 24 shots fired at him.
Braden Epp tallied the lone marker for Prince George with 25 seconds remaining in the second period.
The Spruce Kings had their scoring chances with the man-advantage eight times, but couldn't put the puck past Nanaimo goalie Jayson Argue. Prince George outshot the Clippers 47-42.
"We were down 4-0 in Nanaimo," Dupas said. "That's three bad starts that cost us two games. We have to be better than that and have better first periods."
The Spruce Kings nabbed the playoff spot in the BCHL's Mainland Division with their 6-4 victory over the Capitals Saturday in Duncan.
Chad Staley scored the eventual winner for the Spruce Kings, his second goal of the game, with the man advantage early in the third period.
Bryant Christian led the way for the Spruce Kings with three points, notching two goals, including a power play marker and added an assist.
Jeremiah Luedtke scored a goal and added two assists, while Jake LeBrun tallied a single.
Caps outshot the Spruce Kings 35-27 and Jenks stopped 31 of 35 shots.
Luedtke and Christian were named the game's first two stars respectively.
In Friday's 6-5 loss against the Grizzlies, in Victoria, the Grizzlies edged the Spruce Kings 6-5.
Trailing 5-2 in the third period, Prince George mounted a late comeback with two goals on the power play in the final 2.5 minutes from Justin Rai and Mitch Eden, but time ran out.
Brent Lashuk netted a pair of goals and Justin Rai added a single tally.
Murray stopped 22 of 28 shots in the loss.
The Spruce Kings were expected to arrive back in Prince George at 6 a.m. today.
They now have time to regroup and prepare for a two-game home series against the Coquitlam Express Saturday and Sunday at the Castle. The puck drops Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m.
