The Prince George Spruce Kings rallied with a late goal from Rider Stoglin in the third period, but they couldn't complete the comeback and instead suffered a 4-3 loss to the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs Monday night at the Coliseum.
The Game 3 win means the Chiefs now hold onto a commanding 3-0 series lead in the best-of-seven B.C. Hockey League Mainland Division final. And for the first time in the post-season, the Kings face elimination going into Game 4 tonight at the Coliseum (7 p.m.)
Trailing 4-2 late in the third period Monday night, Stoglin scored at the 16:24 mark to come within a goal.
Prince George netminder Alex Brooks-Potts was pulled in favour of an extra attacker, but the Kings couldn't convert any of their chances and the Chiefs successfully defended their lead before the final buzzer sounded.
The Spruce Kings had a four-minute power play around the 10-minute mark but couldn't bury their chances either.
Trailing 2-0 going into the second period, Kings forward Jake LeBrun scored eight seconds into a power play early in the frame to narrow the Chiefs lead to 2-1.
The Chiefs restored their two-goal cushion midway through the second when Craig Puffer tallied his sixth goal of the post-season.
Jeremiah Luedtke scored his first of the playoffs with six minutes left in the second period come within a goal.
But Chiefs leading scorer Jake Hand replied with his 11th goal of the playoffs with 50 seconds left in the period for a 4-2 lead.
Chilliwack had a 2-0 lead after the first period.
Chiefs forward Tipper Higgins went in all alone from centre ice to beat Kings netminder Alex Brooks-Potts for a 1-0 lead at the 7:30 mark.
It was Higgins 10th goal of the post-season.
Forward Mason Boh added to the Chiefs lead with his third goal of the playoffs at the 17:01 mark.
Brooks-Potts turned aside 29 of 33 shots, while Chiefs starting netminder David Jacobson made 26 of 29 saves.
The Kings were without forwards Jarry Leung (upper body) and Cole Todd and defenceman Viktor Dombrovskiy (concussion). Affiliate players Tavis Roch (defenceman) and forwards Cole Zimmerman and Trevor Pereverzoff took their place.
Loose pucks: As of Monday at game time, there were still 600 tickets remaining for the Spruce Kings Show Home lottery. The draw is Thursday.
The custom-built home by Scheck Construction is a 2,986-square-foot five bedroom, three bath home located at 2693 Links Dr. in the Aberdeen Glen subdivision.
The show home is available to tour Monday to Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Tickets, which sold out last year, are also available at Canadian Tire, Pine Centre Mall, Central Builders, and Northern Hardware.
To purchase tickets, a 24-hour hotline is available, 250-962-4946 (IWIN) until Wednesday.
In addition to show home lottery tickets, the Kings Period 3 Mega 50-50 lottery tickets are also on sale ($20 each) with the draw on Thursday. Someone could win $40,000.
Tickets can be purchased in person as late as 1 p.m. on Thursday.
