The Chilliwack Chiefs were both good and opportunistic against the Prince George Spruce Kings in a 5-3 victory Friday night in front of 1,030 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
Brett Willits, Kyle Penney, Trevor Adams and Tommy Lyons all chipped in with a goal and an assist each giving the second place (16-9-4-2) Chiefs an 11-point edge on the Spruce Kings in the Mainland Division.
Prince George struck first on the power-play courtesy of Mason Waite who lit the lamp for the second consecutive game letting a wrist shot go past Chilliwack goaltender Mathieu Caron.
Much like Thursday (a 3-2 Chilliwack win), the Chiefs were quick to respond ending the first period with two unanswered goals.
Willits took advantage of a goal-mouth scramble sliding it past Spruce Kings starter Carter Woodside to even the score.
Shortly after, Nick Bochen’s pocket was picked shorthanded by Peter Reynolds who then found Lyons at the side of the goal for an easy tap-in.
Preston Brodziak scored his first of two goals early in the second after slapping home an Andrew Seaman shoot in that took a funny hop off the corner boards, fooling Caron.
The roof caved in for the Spruce Kings later in the frame as Penney and Brett Rylance found a way to put a couple of greasy ones by Woodside who saw his night end after allowing four goals on 15 shots.
Penney told MyPGNow post-game it was a productive weekend for him and his fellow forwards.
“We just tried to get pucks to the net staying calm with the puck. Puck possession was huge for us this weekend and I thought we did a really good job of that.”
Kyle Penney of @Chiefs_Hockey scores goal, assist in 5-3 victory over @SpruceKings in @GoBCHL on Friday #CityofPG #sports pic.twitter.com/88wBGzeimU
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 7, 2019
With Jett Alexander pulled for an extra attacker, Prince George got within one courtesy of Brodziak who re-directed a Waite feed past Caron, making a 4-3 game with 1:45 left,
Adams then iced the game for the Chiefs adding an empty netter.
The Spruce Kings went 2-for-5 on the power-play and outshot the Chiefs 27-25.
PG drops to 11-18-2-3, which is tied for last in the Mainland Division.
“For the most part, we are playing better than our record is but we need to show up every night and we need to compete and work hard every single shift. We need to be more consistent and yes it’s frustrating but things are going to come along,” added Brodziak.
“We can’t be making mental errors, we have to make them earn their goals and we need to earn our goals so we need to better.”
.@SpruceKings forward Preston Brodziak chats postgame with @mypgnow after 5-3 loss to @Chiefs_Hockey in @GoBCHL action #cityofpg #sports #GetInTheMix pic.twitter.com/N8xgCphzmZ
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 7, 2019
The RMCA has not been as kind to the home team this year with the Spruce Kings only recording a record of 6-8-2-2.
A five-game homestand will conclude Friday and Saturday (Dec. 13-14) when the BCHL leading Coquitlam Express (27-5-0-0) make their way to the Northern Capital.
Puck drop is at 7:00pm.