The Prince George Spruce Kings’ travel plan to start making their move up the BC Hockey League standings ran into a roadblock Thursday night in Coquitlam.
They lost 4-1 to the Express.
Coquitlam played inhospitable hosts and their third straight loss kept the Spruce Kings four points back of the Langley Riverman in the race for the eighth and final Coastal Conference playoff spot.
The Express were outshot 7-3 in the first period but one those shots managed to beat Kings goalie Charles-Edward Gravel, who returned to action after being in sickbay last weekend on home ice when they lost a pair of games to Chilliwack.
James Shannon doubled the Coquitlam lead in the third minute of the third period and it remained a 2-0 game until Nicolas Papineau gave the Kings some life with 14:30 gone in the period, scoring his ninth goal of the season. But goals from Carson McGinley and Cam Russo put the game out of reach for Prince George.
Andrew Ness blocked 22 of 23 shots to notch the win in goal for Coquitlam.
It the first BCHL loss in five games for Gravel since joined the Spruce Kings Feb. 2 from the QMJHL. He made 17 saves.
There were no penalties in the game.
The win improved Coquitlam’s fifth-place record to 23-14-4-2.
Prince George (17-23-3-1) remains four points behind Langley (17-20-7-1) but the Spruce Kings have played one fewer game than the Rivermen. The Kings have 11 games left.
The Kings will be back on the ice Friday in Surrey (7 p.m.) to face the third-place Eagles (26-14-3-0). On Sunday afternoon (4 p.m.) they’ll take on the Salmon Arm Silverbacks to wrap up their three-game trip.
Prince George will host Langley next weekend in a two-game series at Kopar Memorial Arena.
