The Prince George Spruce Kings had high hopes the return of veteran forward Linden Makow and Owen Goodbrand from the injury shelf would provide the spark needed to get back into the BCHL win column.
The Nanaimo Clippers obviously had other ideas, knowing they had a chance to solidify their grip on a playoff spot and they used their home-ice advantage to spank the Spruce Kings 6-1 Wednesday at Frank Crane Arena.
With that win the eighth-place Clippers (16-18-2-0) increased the gap between themselves and the ninth-place Spruce Kings (12-19-3-1) to six points in the Coastal Conference standings.
The Clippers broke out to a 3-0 lead after one period on goals from Justin Collins, Chase Hall and, on a Nanaimo power play Connor DeTurris.
Nicolas Papineau finally broke through the armour of Clippers goalie Vladimir Nikitin with the only goal of the second period.
Carson Lesiuk and Makaio Van Tassel made it 5-1 before the five-minute mark of the third period and after allowing five goals on 23 shots in 44:18 of game action, Ben Polhill was replaced by Ryder Green, who stopped seven of eight shots the rest of the game. Collins scored his second of the game to cap the scoring.
The Kings were outshot 31-23.
For the 20-year-old Makow, the Prince George captain, it was his first game since Dec. 6, when he hurt his shoulder in a game against the Victoria Grizzlies.
Goodbrand, an assistant captain, played his first game of the season Wednesday after suffering an ankle injury.
The Spruce Kings continue their Vancouver Island tour with stops Friday in Alberni Valley and Saturday in Victoria.
