Three straight wins has a nice ring to it for the Prince George Spruce Kings – a perfect way to ring in the new year.
The Spruce Kings seem to have the Langley Rivermen’s number. Their 4-3 triumph Friday night in Langley was the fourth in four tries this season against their BCHL Mainland Division rivals.
First-period goals from Corey Cunningham, Evan Orr and Nick Bochen staked the Kings to a 3-0 lead heading into the intermission and they held off a third-period surge by the Rivermen to claim the victory.
Preston Broziak’s 15th goal of the season, 1:54 into the third period, was the difference-maker for Prince George. Langley answered with goals from Kaedon Patrick and a pair from Kalen Szeto but couldn’t find the equalizer with Carter Woodside guarding the Kings’ cage.
The Rivermen outshot the Kings 32-27.
Power plays factored in the outcome as the Kings went 2-for-8 with the man advantage. Langley scored once on five PP chances. Cunningham’s opening goal, his 15th this season, also came on the power play.
With the win, Prince George improves its fifth-place Mainland record to 14-21-2-3-0, pulling within four points of the third-place Rivermen (17-18-1-1-1) who are now just one point ahead of the fourth-place Surrey Eagles, 3-1 winners Friday over the Chilliwack Chiefs.
The Kings won’t play again until next Friday, when they host Surrey in a two-game set at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
