The Prince George Spruce Kings’ three-game road trip ended Sunday afternoon with a 3-1 loss to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
The Kings came into the rink hoping to gain ground on the Langley Rivermen, the team they need to catch to make it into the BC Hockey League playoffs.
But the Silverbacks were not about to disappoint their fans in the Rogers Rink crowd of 1,120 for the Sunday matinee.
Maddox Martin, in the first period, and Keifer Miller, early in the third period, put the Silverbacks in the driver’s seat and it stayed a 2-0 game until Kings defenceman Trent Ledrew scored on a Prince George power play just past the 17-minute mark of the third period.
Silverbacks defenceman Tucker Shedd ended it with an empty-net goal with 25 seconds left.
Both goalies were standouts. First star Daniel Dirracola stopped 23 of 24 Spruce Kings shots to improve his BCHL record to 2-0. Charles-Edward Gravel turned aside 34 shots in a losing effort as the game’s third star.
The Spruce Kings went 1-for-2 on the power play and held the Silverbacks without a goal on four power-play chances.
The Spruce Kings and their fans know the next two games at Kopar Memorial Arena could well determine the team’s playoff future.
All they have to do is find a way to defeat the Langley Rivermen. Two regulation wins for the Spruce Kings Friday and Saturday would allow the Kings to leapfrog Langley into eighth place in the Coastal Conference.
The Spruce Kings (18-24-3-1) and Rivermen (17-20-8-1) each have eight games left.
For the Kings, five of those games are at home and three are on the road. Langley has four remaining home games and four on the road.
The Kings started their Trip Thursday with a 4-1 loss in Coquitlam. Saturday in Surrey, they rebounded from a 2-0 deficit and beat the Eagles 3-2 in overtime.
