The Prince George Spruce Kings allowed 5 unanswered goals in the last 31:01 of the game as the Spruce Grove Saints took a 5-2 victory on Saturday night at Kopar Memorial Arena.
Trent Ballentyne got the Spruce Kings on the board at 14:02 as Lucas Veilleux spotted him in the right circle as he snapped one over the shoulder of Ryan De Kok. Brady Anes picked up his first assist of his BCHL career on the goal.
The Spruce Kings converted on their first power play opportunity at 16:14 as Brock Cummings redirected a shot past De Kok to open the lead to two. Brogan McNeil and Skogen Schrott assisted on the marker.
The Saints began to push the pace in the second period, and on a broken play inside the Spruce Kings line, Josh Polak scored his 10th of the season while falling to make it 2-1.
Alexy Lachaine tipped a James Richards point shot on the power play at 10:31 to tie the game at two, as Polak drew the second assist just 18 seconds into the man advantage.
In the third, a strong forecheck from the Saints saw Polak and Max Seguin work the puck behind the net to Keifer Miller, as he jammed the puck off the pad of Carter Wishart and over the line from the side of the crease.
The Spruce Kings spent the next seven minutes trying to find a third shot on goal in the period, and looked to press in the final five minutes of the game.
During a 4-on-4 segment, with Wishart on the bench, the Spruce Kings saw Kazumo Sasaki get his shot blocked and Richards fired it from his own zone into an empty net.
32 seconds later, Ryan Harvey took advantage of a Spruce Kings turnover and snapped a 5th goal home to seal the deal.
Shots on Goal:
Spruce Grove – 34
Spruce Kings – 27
3 Stars:
1st – Josh Polak (Spruce Grove) – 1 goal, 2 assists
2nd – Keifer Miller (Spruce Grove) – 1 goal, 1 assist
3rd – Alexy Lachaine (Spruce Grove) – 1 goal
Next up: Prince George plays their next four games on the road starting Friday night in Coquitlam against the Express. Catch the action on 99.3 REWIND Radio starting at 6:45 for the pre-game show.
