The Prince George Spruce Kings could be excused if they thought their game Sunday afternoon was going to be a breeze. Instead, the Surrey Eagles made them sweat until the final moments in a 4-2 Prince George victory.
The Kings had blown away the Eagles the previous day, 11-2. Vying for their third straight B.C. Hockey League victory in the rematch at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena, the Kings' first goal came quickly when Chong Lee potted a rebound on the power play just 31 seconds in.
The home team's prospects for a weekend sweep brightened considerably when pointman Liam Watson-Brawn found the Surrey net behind goalie Michael Bortiz for a 2-0 lead midway through the first period. But that’s the way it remained until early in the third period.
The Eagles gained momentum from killing off a holdover penalty to start the period and made it a one-goal game. Desi Burgart took off on a left-wing rush and flicked a shot at goalie Stefan Wornig, who stuck out his blocker, but the puck deflected up over his shoulder and into the net.
Parker Colley broke the tension a bit for the Kings' supporters in the crowd of 792 when he took the puck at his own blueline and took it the rest of the way into the Surrey end, scoring on a shot between the legs of the Surrey goaltender for a 3-1 lead with 10 minutes left.
Just when it looked like the Kings were on their way to celebrating their third win in four days, defenceman Sam De Melo got caught holding, giving the Eagles a chance to pull their goalie and go 6-on-4 against the Kings with almost three minutes to play.
They got what they were after on the power play when Jacob Dupont slapped in a loose puck with 90 seconds left, but Kings defenceman Connor Russell killed the Eagles' comeback hopes with an empty-netter from the far corner with just 30 seconds to play.
"Last night we won 11-2 but our focus today was just to bear down and get the two points because we knew they would be coming out pretty hard," said Russell, who now has five goals in 16 games. "Obviously, they're in the basement but credit to them for playing really hard. We know it's a divisional game and it's great to get those two points. We know our record didn't dictate how we're playing. We're giving up fewer shots against and our coaches are happy about that."
Their win Sunday left the third-place Spruce Kings (7-8-0-1) one game below the .500 mark, while the Eagles (4-9-0-0) remained last in the Mainland Division. In their last five games the Kings have allowed only five goals. Four of those games ended in victory.
Heading into Thursday's 4-1 win over Chilliwack, the 19-year-old Colley had yet to score a goal. Now he's got three to show for past three games.
"I feel like I'm definitely starting to hit my stride here, it's a big confidence-booster for myself and I can start to go on a roll here," said Colley. "We've been working hard all year and had those tough seven games and Wenatchee and Penticton but other than that I think we've been playing good and I think we can keep going from here. All our d-men are playing good right now and blocking a lot of shots and we're not long in the d-zone and that's helping us a lot."
Wornig made 23 saves for his fourth win of the season as the Kings outshot the Eagles 32-25.
On Saturday in front of 870 witnesses, just about everything the Kings touched turned to gold. They scored twice in the first period, four times in the second period, and added five more in the third. Brett Mennear and Kyle Johnson each scored a pair of goals and had an assist while Jarod Hovde finished with a goal and three assists. Hunter Luhmann scored twice and Ethan de Jong collected a goal and two assists.
Tanner Campbell, Lee and Colley, on a penalty shot, also scored. Dupont and Jeffrey Stewart countered for the Eagles, scoring on goalie Tavin Grant, who made 23 saves for his second BCHL victory.
LOOSE PUCKS: Mennear won the ofensive-zone draw which led to Lee's goal on Sunday. The assist for Mennear was the 100th point of his BCHL career. The 20-year-old joined the Kings this past summer in a trade from West Kelowna.... The Kings will finish out their October schedule with a weekend doubleheader against a divisional opponent when the Coquitlam Express visit Prince George Friday and Saturday.
