The Prince George Spruce Kings offense exploded for three goals in the third period en route to a 7-4 win over the Cowichan Valley Capitals Saturday Night at Kopar Memorial Arena.
The Spruce Kings would get called for too many players just 43 seconds into the first period, and the Capitals made them pay on the power play, as Loik Leduc beat Asher Netherton over the shoulder, as Netherton made his BCHL debut.
The Spruce Kings responded at 4:02 off a neutral zone faceoff win, as Charlie Spencer won the draw to Noah Smith, who found Cristian Achim in front of the Cowichan Valley net. Achim would wind and fire a slap shot past Evan Maillet to tie the game at one for the first BCHL goal from the German defender.
The Capitals jumped back ahead at 11:24 of the opening frame as Bryce Bryant beat Netherton with a wrister after the puck changed hands in neutral ice.
Prince George would tie the game at 15:12 as Rhett Tubello had the puck deflect off his skate and in from a Mason Loewen pass. It was Tubello’s 3rd of the season and the 2-2 score would remain after 20 minutes.
The power play would play a key role in the middle frame, as Ryan Wachtel scored his fifth of the season on a 5 on 3, before Noah Franzina made it 4-2 with the man advantage for the Swiss forward’s first BCHL goal.
The Capitals got back within a goal before the end of the frame with a power-play goal from Slade Firkus to make it 4-3.
Prince George widened the lead 5:35 into the third period as Mason Loewen put home his fourth of the season. Right after Loewen was stopped on his initial chance, Michael Denney would steal the puck and feed Loewen to make it 5-3.
Just 18 seconds later, Netherton’s pass found Tubello, who delayed at the line to feed Dominic Szczygiel who snapped home his second of the year to make it 6-3.
At 10:43 the top line had a shift at what seemed to be hyper speed, and Wachtel fed Spencer who found Cooper Faughnan for the 7-3 lead.
Cowichan Valley’s Carter Dekay scored with 30.6 seconds left to make it 7-4.
Netherton picked up his first BCHL win making 34 saves.
The Spruce Kings move to 4-1 to start the season and are back in action tomorrow (Sunday) at 2 PM to complete the double header with the Cowichan Valley Capitals. Get your tickets at www.showpass.com/pgsk-10-04-capitals
