Penalties are killers, especially when your penalty-killers don’t get the job done.
The Prince George Spruce Kings learned that lesson the hard way Wednesday night in Salmon Arm, where they lost a 6-2 B.C. Hockey League decision to the Silverbacks, who burned the Kings with five power-play goals.
Prince George minor hockey product Jeremy Gervais, in his second game with the Silvertips since being acquired Friday in a deadline deal for futures from the Bonnyville Pontiacs, assisted on the first two Salmon Arm goals which gave them a 2-0 lead to take into the first intermission. Luke Mylymok opened the scoring at even strength 5:50 into the game. Coalson Wolford added to the total on the power play 16:39 into the opening period.
Gervais, 21, was in his second season in the Alberta Junior Hockey League playing defence for the Bonnyville Pontiacs when the trade was made. The former Cariboo Cougar midget standout, had seven goals and 35 points in 36 games this season for the Pontiacs.
Wil Kushniryk cut the lead to 2-1 with an unassisted power-play goal. That came 1:36 into the second period, with Gervais serving a minor penalty that carried over from the first period. Silverbacks forward William Poirier restored the two-goal cushion at 5:06, but the Kings had an answer for that. Fin Williams potted a rebound for his eighth of the season, his first goal since coming back after missing six weeks with a leg injury he suffered Oct. 12 when he was cut by a skate blade in a game against the Silverbacks in Prince George.
Down by just one goal, the Spruce Kings’ penalty-killing woes continued to haunt them. Mylymok took advantage of Preston Brodziak’s cross-checking penalty to put the Silverbacks ahead 4-2 just before the midway mark of the second period. It was the third Salmon Arm power-play goal in three chances in the game, continuing a pattern that started Saturday when the Surrey Eagles scored two third-period power-play goals to close out a 4-1 victory at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
After Mylymok’s second of the night, Kings head coach Alex Evin pulled goalie Jett Alexander, who allowed four goals on 23 shots, and replaced him with Carter Woodside. Woodside was flawless until the 8:29 mark of the third period, when Daniel Rybarik redirected a goal-mouth pass into the net. That came two minutes into a five-minute major penalty and game misconduct handed to Kushniryk when he hit Silverbacks defenceman Zach Gabruch from behind into the end boards. Thirty-one seconds later, on the same power play, Nick Unruh tipped another puck in behind Woodside to make it 6-2.
The Silverbacks finished 5-for-5 in the power play while outshooting the Kings 38-30. Grant Adams picked up his first win in three games since joining the Silverbacks Jan. 3 from the Sioux Falls Stampede of the USHL. Woodside stopped 13 of 15 shots he faced coming in to relieve Alexander.
The Kings (14-24-2-3-0) have now lost three straight and are stuck in fifth place in the BCHL’s Mainland Division, seven points behind the Langley Rivermen. Salmon Arm (23-18-1-1-0) pulled even in points with the third-place Vernon Vipers in the Interior Division.
LOOSE PUCKS: Spruce Kings left winger Nick Poisson returned from the CJHL Prospects Game in Hamilton, Ont., after he helped Team West to a 6-4 win over Team East in the game on Tuesday. Poisson, a Quinnipiac University recruit for 2020, assisted on Williams’s even-strength goal in the second period… The Kings are back on home ice Friday to face the Langley Rivermen on Mohawk Night. The team will pay tribute to the Prince George Mohawks intermediate/senior team, which had a string of successful seasons in the ‘50s, ‘60s and ‘70’s. Several former Mohawks are expected to attend the game and a near-sellout crowd is expected. Tickets, as available, will be on sale at the Kings’ office at RMCA… Kushniryk’s hit on Gabruch carries an automatic two-game suspension, which means he will miss Friday’s game and next Wednesday’s afternoon game in Coquitlam against the league-leading Express.
