With their backs up against the wall facing another must-win game, the Prince George Spruce Kings came up aces.
Playing their third road in as many days, PG throttled the Surrey Eagles by a 6-1 score on Sunday to keep their BCHL playoff hopes alive.
After a scoreless opening 20 minutes, Cooper Williams and Carter Hesselgrave kickstarted the Spruce Kings offense in the middle period giving them a 2-0 advantage after two periods of play.
Gavin Rocha trimmed the deficit to a single goal a mere 23 seconds in the third period beating Charles-Edward Gravel.
However, the Spruce Kings meant business the rest of the scoring four unanswered goals to cap off a Lower Mainland road trip that netted five out of a possible six points.
Nicholas Papineau notched his 11th of the season capping off a scoring play that saw Ludvig Basth and Nick Metelkin chip in with the assists.
Six minutes later, Basth set up Ryan Wachtel for his sixth of the BCHL campaign making it 4-1.
Williams and Brock Cummings then rippled the mesh thirty seconds apart to complete the offensive onslaught.
PG improves to 21-25-4-2 on the season, three points back of the Langley Rivermen (21-22-8-1) for the final playoff spot in the Coastal Conference.
After departing the QMJHL’s St. John Seadogs in February, Gravel ranks among the league’s best goalies, sporting a 1.95 goals-against average and .932 save percentage.
The Spruce Kings end their regular season with a pair of homes games Saturday (6pm) and Sunday (3pm) against the lowly Powell River Kings (9-37-5-1) at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
PG needs to win both games while Langley, who hosts Coquitlam and Chilliwack Friday either have to lose out or can only register a single point in their last two games in order for the Spruce Kings to qualify.
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