Once he got the puck on his stick deep in Coquitlam Express territory, Kazumo Sasaki had it worked out in his mind what he wanted to do with it.
He wanted to end the game Friday with one flick of his wrists and that’s precisely what he did. His sharp-angle shot was on target and it cinched a come-from-behind 3-2 overtime win for the Prince George Spruce Kings.
Playing 3-on-3 hockey, Sasaki stripped the puck away from Mason Kesserling on the right wing boards and cut in on goalie Andrew Ness. By the time he let go the shot there was only sliver of net showing, but Sasaki nailed it 5:53 into OT to give the Spruce Kings a badly-needed BCHL victory.
“We’ve been talking about starting on time and we weren’t got about that lately and we got down 2-0 early but the boys did a good job staying positive, we kept our voices high on the bench and we pushed each other really hard and found a way to find the net twice,” said Sasaki.
“I think it was a team effort and in overtime the boys did a great job staying man-on-man and didn’t give them time and I was fortunate enough to get the lucky bounce and put the puck in the net,” he said.
“My strength is kind of wide drive-in and using my speed, and I was planning on cutting through the goalie’s crease to that tight space and roofing it up. That was my vision and I’ve been practicing that a lot and I was happy the puck ended up in the net.”
Trent Ledrew’s seeing-eye wrister from the point found its way into Coquitlam net for the tying goal with 5:42 left in the third period, the second of the year for the 19-year-old from Windsor, Ont.
That came after Spruce Kings centre Nic Papineau buried a rebound to get his team on the scoreboard after defenceman Maks Percic led the rush and rifled a hard shot that caromed off the pads of goalie Ness.
The Spruce Kings outshot the Express 8-4 in the third period and 40-23 in the game.
One of those Coquitlam shots came off a shorthanded breakaway for Cale Colwell and he got a good shot away but Charles Gravel, making his BCHL debut, was up to the task, shooting out his blocker to make the save.
It was a gamesaver, one of 21 Gravel made in his first game since joining the Kings a week ago from the Saint John Sea Dogs of the QMJHL.
“I just tried to follow up the game and I guess he shot on me,” said Gravel.
“They were a good team and they played hard but we also played hard and the team that played best won the game. It’s a good group of guys and it’s just nice to win for them, it felt great. Obviously it’s sweet to get the first win in the book, I just hope to get the next one.”
The Express got the quick start they were hoping for, scoring two goals in the first eight minutes.
The first was the result of a giveaway in the Kings’ zone. Defenceman Ludvig Basth coughed the puck up to Kesselring and the Express had the numbers advantage to get Gravel moving in his crease and he was unable to get across ahead of the goalmouth pass from Thomas Zocco to Carson McGinley, who popped it in for his 11th of the season.
Coquitlam made it a 2-0 count when they jammed the net and the puck skirted out to Ryan Staples and he tucked it in with a low shot.
The Kings settled down in the second period and held a territorial edge and were better at keeping the puck on their sticks but had difficulty getting shots through.
Coquitlam survived a lengthy two-man Spruce Kings power play without any damage.
“Give the Spruce Kings credit for sticking around, we like to get in control of games when we can and it’s not always you have a two-goal lead, but I guess that’s why they call it the worst lead in hockey,” said Express assistant coach Kyle Johnson, captain of the Spruce Kings in 2018 when they advanced to the BCHL final for the first time in franchise history.
“We let our foot off the gas a but and combine that with a strong effort from a scrappy team over there and we saw the result. When it comes down to the last 15 or 20 games for every team in our conference things get tighter no matter who you’re playing and you saw a good effort from a team that’s on the outside looking in. We’ve got to look in the mirror to see if these effort matter as much to us as it does the opponent.”
The Spruce Kings (14-20-3-1) picked up two valuable points to remain in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Express (21-12-32) stayed fourth in the Coastal Conference. The eighth-place Langley Rivermen won 7-3 Friday at Cowichan Valley while the seventh-place Nanaimo Clipper blanked the Victoria Grizzlies 5-0 in Victoria. Nanaimo and Langley are eight points ahead of Prince George.
The Spruce Kings have 16 games left to try to make up that gap, including a rematch with Coquitlam tonight (6 p.m.) at Kopar.
Stay posted to the Citizen website for an upcoming feature story on the former Spruce King Johnson.
