A king was crowned at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA).
Unfortunately, for the Prince George Spruce Kings it was anything but a coronation as the Powell River Kings dethroned their playoff rivals 5-2 on Thursday night in front of a crowd of 706.
For the second straight home game, Prince George was forced to play catch-up giving up a pair of first period power-play goals to BCHL goals leader Ben Berard and former Cariboo Cougar Mitchell Williams, spotting the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Special teams proved to be the difference as Powell River lit the lamp shorthanded early in the second off of a two-on-one where Christine Buono ripped one past Spruce Kings netminder Logan Neaton spoiling an earlier Prince George goal by local product Corey Cunningham.
The PG power-play is a chilly one-for-15 over the last three home games at the RMCA and was a liability again against the Kings.
“It seems like we’re not on the same page a lot of the time we need to get more pucks to the net for sure and we’re playing too much on the perimeter and trying to be a little fancy at times so we just have to get back to basics,” said Dylan Anhorn, Spruce Kings defenceman.
An early flu bug is making its way through the Spruce Kings dressing room at the moment as they were without forwards, Sam Kozlowski, Michael Conlin, Spencer Chapman and Layne Sniher for Thursday’s contest.
With the increased minutes forced upon a lot of the veteran core, fatigue may have been setting in a little bit quicker.
“Yeah absolutely it played a little bit of a part with lesser bodies but I don’t think we can blame today’s game on that one for sure, I think it comes down to our special teams as five-on-five we outplayed them the entire game to be frank with you and we just couldn’t get it done with the extra man.”
“We’re playing the game right especially five-on-five and doing everything we need to we just need to find a way to get dirtier in front the of the net and put some of those in.”
Patrick Cozzi scored the other single late in the game for Prince George, while Josh Coblenz, and Ethan Schmunk added insurance markers for Powell River.
Kings goaltender Mitch Adamyk made several 10-bell saves throughout the contest to keep his team in the driver seat including a larcenous stop on Tyler Schleppe late in the middle frame.
Prince George outshot Powell River 37-22 and remain three points back of the Chilliwack Chiefs for the Mainland Division lead.
The Spruce Kings (7-4-0-1) wrap up a four-game homestand on Saturday when they entertain the Salmon Arm Silverbacks (5-4-1-0) at 7PM.
