Chad Staley tallied twice to lead the Prince George Spruce Kings to a 6-4 victory over the visiting Chilliwack Chiefs Friday night.
In front of 1,400 fans at Prince George's home-opener at the Coliseum, the Kings captain scored the eventual winner on the powerplay midway through the second period.
Prince George secured its fifth win of the season to improve to 5-1 in the B.C. Hockey League and now leads the Mainland Division with 10 points.
Chilliwack's loss was its first of the season and fall to 4-1 to sit second in the division with eight points.
The two rivals battle again tonight at the Coliseum in a 7 p.m. face-off.
Friday night, Prince George took a 4-0 lead 12 seconds into the second period when Staley's backhand shot got past Chiefs goalie Mitch Datz.
Then the Kings stopped skating and couldn't get the puck out of their own zone which allowed the Chiefs to narrow the gap to 4-3 with three goals in a three-minute span early in the second period from Craig Puffer, Tipper Higgins and Kurt Black.
Staley replied with his second goal of the night and his fourth of the season 13 seconds into a powerplay opportunity. Chilliwack tallied its fourth goal of the game three minutes into the third period on a goal from Jake Larson.
With under four-and-a-half minutes remaining, Justin Rai, the Kings leading scorer, added the insurance marker with his eighth goal of the season with assists from his linemates Staley and Luedtke.
Matt Stief fired a wrist shot from the top the face-off circle at the 16:42-mark of the first period to give the Kings a 3-0 lead in the first period.
Cycling the puck on the power play, Luedtke tapped in a shot from Adam Clements for his second of the season at the 7:52-mark.
Stephen Penner opened the scoring for the Spruce Kings with a shot from the point at the two-minute mark of the first period. It was the defenceman's first goal of the season.
Jesse Jenks turned aside 16 of 20 shots he face, while his counterpart Datz stopped 21 of 27 shots.
Special teams were key in the game --Prince George was three-for-five with the man-advantage and also score once while short-handed. The Chiefs were one-for-five on the powerplay.
Ice chips: The Kings will reveal their special third jerseys tonight...The Spruce Kings unveiled Kingston as their new mascot Friday night.
