The Prince George Spruce Kings learned a hard lesson right before the playoffs.
Never count out your opponent.
Noah Serdachny’s game-winning goal at 3:01 of overtime capped off an epic 6-5 victory for the Salmon Arm Silverbacks on Friday in front of 859 fans at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena.
PG (26-15-4-8) held a 5-0 edge with 12 minutes remaining in the third period until the flood gates finally opened.
Zack Smith deflected a Brandon Santa Juana feed past Spruce Kings netminder Aaron Trotter to begin the comeback.
Salmon Arm (36-10-4-2) continued to pour it on as sniper Simon Tassy went in on a shorthanded breakaway and lifted the puck past the legs of Trotter to trim the deficit to 5-2. Five minutes later, a seeing eye shot from blueliner Owen Desilites fooled the goaltender and thickened the plot with 2:23 remaining.
After a Silverbacks timeout, head coach Tyler Shattock pulled goaltender Liam Vanderkooi in favour of the extra-attacker and the Vegas-like gamble paid off big time as Santa Juana rifled home a shot past Trotter to make it a 5-4 game with 1:09 left on the clock.
The equalizer at 19:16 came off the rush as Tassy took a shot-pass that found the stick of Smith and the puck sailed past Trotter.
“Obviously the last couple minutes there, that’s unacceptable, not how we want to play and we definitely have to learn from it and come back stronger tomorrow. You’ve got to give Salmon Arm some credit, they’re a strong team and they’ve got lots of skill so in 3-on-3 they’ve got lots of speed and skill and it can haunt you,” said Kolton Cousins, Spruce Kings forward.
With one game left in the regular season, the rematch with Salmon Arm occurs tonight (Saturday) at 7:00 from the RMCA.
The Spruce Kings, who have lost 9 of their last 10, need to win that game in order to improve their chance of hosting a first round playoff series, which would begin April 1st.
The (28-19-2-3) Cranbrook Bucks beat the Penticton Vees 5-2 Friday to move within three points of the Spruce Kings.
Winning percentage decides who finishes higher in the standings.
The Bucks, with two games left, host the Vees again tonight and the following Saturday they welcome Corey Cunningham and the Trail Smoke Eaters.
“We have the best fans in the league and playing at home is a huge advantage for us so hopefully we get two points tomorrow (Saturday) and we can have home ice in the playoffs, said Cousins.
While it was not much of a consolation, the Spruce Kings hit the ground running, scoring two goals on six shots in the first period courtesy of Rowan Miller and Nick Rheaume.
Miller’s sharp-angle shot fooled Vanderkooi who also got distracted by a hard-charging Nick Rheaume.
Speaking of Rheaume, he tallied his team-leading 29th a minute later deflecting a Ben LeFranc point shot.
To begin the second period, the Spruce Kings got some offense from an unlikely source.
Nathan Fox drove towards the Salmon Arm goal and banged home a rebound in the crease to make it 3-0.
The Kings kept up the pressure and dominated the period, outshooting the Silverbacks 18-8 as John Herrington potted a late one to put the hosts up 4-zip.
In the third period, Luc Laylin added a highlight reel rush blowing past defenceman Tucker Hartmann before lifting a high wrist shot underneath the crossbar.
PG outshot Salmon Arm 41-29 as both teams went 0-for-3 on the power-play.
Tassy, who is the third leading scorer in the BCHL, had a four-point night with a goal and three assists, trailing the dynamic duo of Ellis Rickwood and Matthew Wood who both play for the Victoria Grizzlies.
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