A winless streak has finally ended!
For the first time since 2019, the Prince George Spruce Kings pulled out an excellent performance through until the final buzzer against one of the better BCHL franchises in recent years.
The red, white and blue defeated the Chilliwack Chiefs Monday night (April 12) by a score of 5-3.
This marks their first win in the last eight games with their pod-host rivals, the last coming on Oct. 18, 2019, in a 3-2 overtime victory at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA).
Four different players recorded multi-point games, including Carter Cochrane and Nick Rheaume with two goals each, while goaltender Jordan Fairlie won his second game in four starts.
The Fort St. John product made 28 saves on 31 shots in the 60-minute affair.
Cochrane broke the board first with 64 seconds left in the opening stanza, slapping in a rebound after Kolton Cousins tried to drag the puck to the front of the net from the left side.
He and Christian Buono were credited with the apples to Cochrane's second of the shortened season.
💰💰💰💰💰 pic.twitter.com/VeYp2u6sSa
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) April 13, 2021
The Chiefs knotted it up at 1-1 on a power-play, but the Spruce Kings regained the one-goal advantage thanks to Rheaume's marker with less than three minutes remaining in the middle period.
Rheaume lit a second consecutive lamp to put Prince George up 3-1 in the contest, coming at 6:25 of the final frame, with assists from rookie Ben LeFranc and Simon Labelle.
Chilliwack kept themselves alive to pull within one 63 seconds later, but failed to tie the match on special teams and allowing Rowan Miller to score his first of 2020-21 while shorthanded a mere 74 seconds after that.
The lead was cut to 4-3 by Chilliwack once more and pulled goaltender Jakob Gullmes to try and force extra time, but Cochrane found a loose puck and pushed it towards the empty net to secure the 5-3 win.
The Spruce Kings improve to a 4-2 record in the 20-game BCHL campaign, now tied for the pod lead with the Chiefs.
Prince George now has two days off before competing in their third of four straight designated home games.
The next puck drop is set for Thursday (April 15) against Chilliwack, followed by the second of a back-to-back on Friday (April 16) with Merritt.
Both games are scheduled for 5 p.m.
