The Prince George Spruce Kings are still first in their division but if they keep playing like they did Friday night at the Coliseum it's only a matter of time before they get kicked out of the penthouse suite.
Nothing against the Alberni Valley Bulldogs, who were full value for their 4-3 victory, but the Kings appeared to make it easy for them with an uninspired effort that sent a crowd of 1,127 faithful fans home disappointed.
Down 3-1, the Kings responded with two goals late in the third period to tie the game briefly, but the Bulldogs answered 26 seconds later with the gamewinner from rookie Everett Putz, who picked the corrner low on Alex Brooks-Potts with 22.7 seconds left.
That took the steam out of a late comeback attempt from the Kings, who got goals from Cooper Leitch and Brogan O'Brien in the final three minutes to pull even.
The Buldogs outshot the Kings 37-26 and controlled most of the play. Nathan Warren, an 18-year-old Prince George native, was solid in the Bulldog net, playing his first game on P.G. ice since he left the Cariboo Cougars major midget team for the junior B 100 Mile House Wranglers in 2013. The Bulldogs added him to their roster in January.
The Bulldogs took advantage of a match penalty handed to Kings defenceman Ryan Fritz and scored two goals before the five-minute penalty expired. Defenceman Kurt Gosselin was the first to capitalize on a long stretch of relentless pressure with a point shot that found the net and Brett Stewart put the visitors in front 2-1 with a perfectly-placed wrist shot from the high slot. Fritz was given the match penalty when he got involved in a fight with Mitch Makin, who had run into Brooks-Potts. While trying to grab Makin's jersey Fritz grabbed a handful of his hair, which did not go unnoticed by referee Brendon Creyke.
Dylan Haugen added to the total at even strength a couple minutes later with a shot that Brooks-Potts got a piece, but not enough of to keep it out of the cage.
Kings defenceman Adam Clements opened the scoring 12 minutes into the game with a shot from the top of the face-off circle that appeared to deflect off a stick before it got to goalie Warren.
The win kept the Bulldogs (12-7-1-2) second in the BCHL's Island Division, while the Kings (14-10-0-2) continued to lose ground.
Both teams were missing some big guns. The Bulldogs were without injured leading scorer Evan Tironese, who had 32 points in 19 games, fourth-best in the BCHL. In Wednesday night's 5-1 loss in Chilliwack the Kings lost their leading scorer Justin Rai (15-16-31) to an upper-body injury and the game also took a toll on Chad Staley (13-17-30), forced to sit out Friday's game with a lower-body injury. That gave major midget forwards Austin Gray and Colton Thomas a stab.
The Kings host Liam Blackburn and the West Kelowna Warriors in their next game Tuesday night at the Coliseum.
