The Prince George Spruce Kings battled back from down 5-1 and 6-3 to tie the game with 2:11 remaining, but a fluke bounce for Edvin Nilsson gave the Chilliwack Chiefs a 7-6 overtime victory on Saturday night in Chilliwack.
The Chiefs would jump out to an early 1-0 lead just 43 seconds into the 1st period as A.J. Schaaf stripped Trent LeDrew of the puck and beat Ryder Green to open the scoring.
Prince George responded on the power play at 9:25 as Marcus Lougheed’s one-timer beat David DiGirolamo to tie the game.
Chilliwack responded with a power-play goal of their own at 15:03 when Boris Borin scored his 12th of the season after the Spruce Kings were called for too many men.
The Spruce Kings applied some early pressure in the second but couldn’t solve DiGirolamo, before Reese Shaw beat Green up high to make it 3-1 at 6:14.
Markuss Sieradzkis scored his 15th of the season at 11:48 before Kevin Perrault got his 4th of the year to make it 5-1 at 16:40.
The man advantage would strike for the Spruce Kings once again with 3.5 seconds remaining as Carter Hesselgrave picked up his 21st of the year from Ben Vreugdenhil and Lougheed.
Early in the third period, Green would be bumped by Drew DellaSalla and a scrum ensued, with Green involved with Arjun Bawa before Evan Bellamy and Bawa dropped the gloves. Green tried to engage DiGirolamo at centre ice, but ended up putting the Spruce Kings shorthanded.
While down a man, Ben Vreugdenhil put in a big effort to get the puck out and chase it down, diving to play it across to Ryan Wachtel, who buried it to make it 5-3 Chiefs.
Chilliwack jumped back up by three at 3:18 when Jack Plandowski found the back of the net.
The Spruce Kings would get a full two-minute 5 on 3 halfway through the frame after a number of crosschecks on the same play, and Wachtel scored his second of the night on the power play to make it 6-4.
Just over two minutes later, Mason Loewen deflected a LeDrew point shot to make it 6-5.
Prince George would get a Major Power Play at 15:11 as Sieradzkis was given a major for cross-checking Hesselgrave in the face, aned at 17:49 Tai Ushio put a rebound home from the left circle to tie the game.
In the opening minute of overtime after the penalty expired, Nilsson drove the net but put it high. The puck would bounce up in the air and back over the goal, right off the back of Green and in. The Spruce Kings felt it might have hit the netting, but there wouldn’t be a review conducted so the goal stood and the comeback fell short.
The Spruce Kings are back on the road Thursday and Friday in Powell River before facing the Alberni Valley Bulldogs on Saturday night to complete the road trip.
