They had to work a little longer than they would have liked, but the Prince George Spruce Kings picked up an important win Tuesday night at the Coliseum.
At one point in the B.C. Hockey League contest, the Kings had a 4-1 lead against the Westside Warriors. The game ended up going to double overtime, and the Kings prevailed 5-4.
The winning goal, 15 seconds into the second extra session, was provided by Todd Skirving, who joined the team at the Jan. 10 trade deadline from the Vernon Vipers.
The Kings improved to 11-35-0-3 and pulled to within five points of the Quesnel Millionaires for the final playoff berth in the Interior Conference. The Westside record now sits at 25-18-2-4.
The game was tied 1-1 after the first period and the Kings led 2-1 after the second.
In a wild third period, the teams combined for five goals. The Spruce Kings, on markers by Skirving and Connor Tiechko, moved ahead 4-1 and appeared to have clear sailing all the way to the final buzzer.
But, the Warriors came back with a vengeance. They got a power-play goal from Grayson Downing at 9:07 and then, just over a minute later, an even-strength marker off the stick of Quinn Gould. Another power-play goal, this one by Dru Morrison at the 14:32 mark, was the one that sent the game to overtime.
Max French opened the scoring for Westside early in the first period, and Faiz Kahn replied with a power-play tally for the home team. Ben Woodley, a defenceman acquired from the Grande Prairie Storm at the trade deadline, put the Kings back out in front in the middle frame.
The Warriors outshot the Kings 37-31.
The Kings will be on the road this weekend for games against the Vernon Vipers (Friday), Salmon Arm Silverbacks (Saturday) and Merritt Centennials (Sunday).
