Kazumo Sasaki made sure if the puck was on his stick, there was only one thing on his mind.
After fanning on a clear-cut breakaway in overtime 24 hours earlier, the 19-year-old forward broke through with a massive hat-trick performance as the Prince George Spruce Kings thumped the Victoria Grizzlies 8-2 in front of 1,141 fans at the Kopar Memorial Arena on Saturday.
Sasaki did his best work on the power-play lighting the lamp twice in a span of 2:21 seconds solving Victoria goalie Tyler Hodges.
Skogen Schrott added to the PG advantage accepting a Mason Loewen pass extending the opening period death grip to 3-0. Oscar Pantzare kept the Grizzlies clinging to life with a late goal prior to intermission.
Will Moore and Linden Makow upped the ante for the Spruce Kings offensively extending the lead to 5-1 after 40 minutes.
In the third, Prince George continued to feast on the Grizzlies lack of discipline. Sasaki only needed 40 seconds to complete the hat-trick. Lucas Veilleux continued the piping hot momentum on the power-play finishing off an Ethan Montroy pass.
Landon Mackie (Victoria) and Cooper Williams (Prince George) added singles late in the period.
Moore, Schrott and Sasaki each had three points or more.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Grizzlies 38-27 and went 4-for-7 on the power-play.
Carter Wishart made 25 saves in the win while Hodges took the defeat for Victoria.
On Friday, the Spruce Kings fell in 4-3 overtime to the Grizzlies.
Sasaki who was sent on a breakaway, fanned on his shot attempt. Victoria defender Drew Hockley then fired a big-league pass to Jacksenn Hungle who sprung free down the middle of the ice and made no mistake on Wishart.
Victoria held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 after the first two periods courtesy of a pair of goals from Chase Pirtle.
Moore and Mason Loewen put the Spruce Kings ahead 3-2 with less than twelve minutes remaining. Slovak import Tobias Pitka evened the scored for the Grizzlies, parking himself in front of the goal before outwaiting Wishart making it 3-3.
PG went 1-for-5 on the power-play while Victoria (8-5-2-0) couldn’t convert on its three opportunities.
Olivier Auyeung-Ashton turned aside 24 PG shots while Wishart made 33 saves in defeat for the Spruce Kings.
PG (5-8-2-1) continues its four-game homestand next Friday and Saturday against the Cowichan Valley Capitals (7-8-0-0).
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