Nicolas Papineau gave the Prince George Spruce Kings and their fans in the crowd of 954 Friday night at Kopar Memorial Arena a reason to leave the rink smiling.
Papineau’s second goal of the game, an unassisted effort 6:27 into overtime, made all the difference in a 4-3 victory over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs that ended a two-game losing streak.
The 20-year-old from Gatineau had given the Kings a 3-2 lead in the second period, less than two minutes after Brady Anes had tied it up on a setup from BCHL all-star winger Trent Ballentyne.
That lead lasted until the 2:34 mark of the third period, when Cole Bishop found the net behind Kings goalie Dylan Johnson.
Ballentyne also drew an assist on Brock Cummings’s 11th goal of the season to open the scoring in the first period. Newly-recruited centre Nick Metelkin drew the primary assist, his first point since joining the Spruce Kings earlier this week from Odessa of the NAHL
Lenny Greenberg and Caden Tremblay scored first-period goals for the Bulldogs, who were outshot 41-33.
The win improved the Spruce Kings’ BC Hocley League record to 11-17-3-1, ninth in the Coastal Conference. The Bulldogs (19-11-2-0) remained fourth in the conference
The same teams meet again Saturday on Indigenous Night at Kopar. Game time id 6 p.m.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Kings were without winger Kazumo Sasaki. The 19-year-old is playing for Team Japan at the IIHF U20 World Junior Championship Division 1 Group B tournament in Tallinn, Estonia. Japan faces Korea in an opening-day game at the eight-team tournament Saturday (9:30 a.m. PT).
