The Prince George Spruce Kings are obviously no fans of the shootout.
For the fifth time since they returned from the Christmas break on Dec. 30 the Spruce Kings lost in a shootout Friday night in West Kelowna, a 3-2 victory for the Warriors.
Elan Bar-Lev-Wise gave the Warriors what they needed to end the game, scoring the only goal of the shootout. Simon Labelle, Luc Laylin and John Herrington were unable to put pucks behind Warriors goalie Johnny Derrick.
The Kings came back rom a 2-0 deficit in the second period to force overtime. Goals from defenceman Ben LeFranc, 8:37 into the second period, and Laylin, on a Prince George power play with 3:59 left in regulation time, produced a 2-2 deadlock.
After a scoreless first period, Christophe Farmer and Chase Dafoe beat Kings goalie Jordan Fairlie with goals 18 seconds apart in the first eight minutes of the second period. Kings head coach Alex Evin replaced Fairlie after Dafoe’s goal, after the Kings goalie had allowed two goals on eight shots. Aaron Trotter played the rest f the game and stopped all 14 shots he faced.
The Kings outshot the Warriors 31-23.
The Kings (20-9-3-5-0, .649 winning percentage) remain third in the Interior Conference, just ahead of the fourth-place Warriors (23-13-0-0-0, .639). Prince George has recorded at least a point and has not suffered a regulation loss in 14 games since the break.
Prince George will visit the Merritt Centennials on Saturday to finish off a three-game trip. The Kings started off with a 6-0 win over in Merritt on Wednesday.
