Second period power-play goals from both Corey Cunningham and Nick Poisson was not enough as the Prince George Spruce Kings fell to the Surrey Eagles 7-2.
In the opening frame, the Eagles found themselves on the man advantage 33 seconds into the game. Brandon Santa Juana found the back of the net just over a minute into the period, receiving a pass from Holden Katzalay to give Surrey an early lead.
Eight minutes later, Surrey struck again as Gabe Schovanek received a pass via tic tac toe to fire it past goaltender Jett Alexander to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Then at 15:52, it was team leading goal scorer Holden Katzalay who went top corner on Alexander to extend the Surrey lead to 3-0. The Eagles took that lead into the dressing room after the opening 20 minutes.
In the second frame, Prince George found themselves on the power-play early on. It took just nine seconds on the man advantage for Corey Cunningham to whack home a rebound in the blue paint past Thomas Scarfone to get PG on the board. The Cunningham marker came at 9:48 of the period. Nolan Welsh got the lone assist.
Two minutes later, Jett Alexander had an equipment malfunction which could not be fixed on the ice, therefore, he had to leave the game briefly to get it fixed. Jack McGovern came into replace Alexander for the time being. Holden Katzalay received a pass on a two-on-one and slid the puck past McGovern to regain Surrey’s three goal lead. A few moments later, Prince George went back to the man advantage and executed. Nick Poisson wired home a one timer just behind the circle going top cheddar on Scarfone to make it a 4-2 game.
Surrey again got the three-goal lead back 37 seconds later. Christophe Tellier scored his 10th of the year with the assists coming from Cade Alami and Hudson Schandor. Jett Alexander then got his equipment fixed and re-entered the contest. The Eagles remained with a three-goal lead after 40 minutes.
In the final frame, the Spruce Kings did have some chances but could not solve goaltender Thomas Scarfone all period long. Surrey tallied two more goals both coming from forward Buddy Johnson. Johnson scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season, leading the Eagles to a 7-2 win on home ice against the Prince George Spruce Kings.
The Spruce Kings wrap up the three-game road swing in Chilliwack tomorrow night against the Chilliwack Chiefs. Puck drop is slated for 7:00. You can catch all of the action on HockeyTV and Mixlr. The pre-game show will kick off at 6:45, with play by play coming shortly after 7:00.
3 STARS
- Holden Katzalay (2 G 1 A) (SUR)
- Christophe Tellier (1 G 2 A) (SUR)
- Buddy Johnson (2 G 1 A) (SUR)
FORTIS ENERGY PLAYER OF THE GAME : Hudson Schandor (4 A) (SUR)