The Prince George Spruce Kings got back to business on Saturday, and they got a timely boost from their power-play to upend the Coquitlam Express for the second night in a row skating to a 6-1 victory.
The team was led by the top unit of Patrick Cozzi (a goal and an assist) Ben Brar (three helpers) and Dustin Manz (two goals) once again who found several holes in the game of Express netminder Klay Stevenson.
Liam Watson-Brawn broke open the scoring early in the first period as his sharp-angle shot fooled an unsuspecting Stevenson beating him over the shoulder for a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes.
The Spruce Kings scored five more times over the next two periods including three in a row on the power-play, which went 3-for-8.
“We’ve been heating up lately getting some goals a man up with lots of opportunities tonight (Saturday) and we got some chances to put it in the back of the next, so, all in all, we are happy,” said Spruce Kings defenceman Dylan Anhorn post-game.
Nicholas and Ben Poisson continued to be in fine form as both players found the back of the net in the win.
The younger sibling believes it was important to play a more complete game from a night earlier where some mental lapses proved costly.
“That was really key for us, all the practices we had were to make sure the guys were buying in and playing 200-foot hockey so I think we really denied them of chances because they are a team that likes to spread the ice out and go cross-ice and we really shut that down for them.”
Prince George outshot the Express 38-24 overall as Logan Neaton recorded an easy 23-save victory.
The Spruce Kings improve to 29-12-1-5 on the season but were unable to make up any ground on the Mainland Division-leading Chilliwack Chiefs who collected a pair of extra-time wins over the Merritt Centennials and Wenatchee Wild to maintain their five-point edge.
A four-game homestand continues next Friday and Saturday when the Surrey Eagles roll into the RMCA.
Puck drop for both games is 7pm.
