Eight minutes of sloppy hockey soiled what was otherwise a decent effort from the Prince George Spruce Kings.
A trio of second period markers from Nathan Morin, Brendyn Van Oene and Brady Milburn led the Coastal Conference-leading Chilliwack Chiefs to a 6-4 victory over the Spruce Kings on Friday in front of 1,108 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Chilliwack (28-9-5-0) looked to be home and cool with a formidable 4-1 lead halfway through the contest.
Not so fast.
Will Moore led a 2-on-1 rush into the Chiefs zone, cut against the grain on defenseman Olivier Beaulieau before firing a wrist shot under the arm of Chilliwack goaltender and Montreal Canadians prospect Quentin Miller.
PG’s quick-strike offense came to life in the third lighting the lamp twice in 19 seconds. While on a power-play, overage captain Linden Makow accepted an Owen Goodbrand pass firing a hard shot over the shoulder of Miller.
Then, Ryan Wachtel notched his second of the game accepting a Nicholas Papineau pass on a 2-on-1 off the ensuing faceoff.
From there, the offense continued to come at its frantic pace as former Red Deer Rebel and Tri-City American Dwayne Jean Jr found himself free down the middle of the ice and rifled a one-time past the glove of Spruce Kings netminder Ryder Green to re-claim the Chiefs lead to 5-4.
Ex-Lethbridge Hurricane Dustin Renas iced the game with an empty netter in the final minute. The 19-year-old opened the scoring in the first period letting a sharp-angle shot squeek through the equipment of Green and into the net.
Wachtel made it 1-1 after 20 minutes. The New Jersey-born forward parked himself in front of the Chilliwack net and banged home a rebound past the outstretched pad of Miller.
Prince George outshot the Chiefs 36-29 and went 2-for-5 on the power-play while the Chilliwack scored once on two tries.
Green took the loss in goal making 23 saves in defeat. The Spruce Kings, who saw their four-game win streak come to an end were without starting netminder Charles Gravel who missed the game due to sickness.
PG is now four back of the Langley Rivermen (17-19-7-1) for the final playoff spot in the Coastal Conference. Langley fell in overtime on Friday against the Surrey Eagles.
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