After getting outworked on home ice, the Langley Rivermen punched back and said enough is enough.
The home ice desperation proved to be just enough on Wednesday night as the Rivermen rode the back of a two-goal performance from Sam Giangualano in a 5-4 victory over the Prince George Spruce Kings in front of 728 fans from the George Preston Arena.
Giangualano opened the scoring for Langley at 5:50 of the first period, giving the hosts an early 1-0 lead.
That would be short-lived as Ben Vreugdenhil evened the score less than 90 seconds later for the Spruce Kings.
Prior to the intermission, the Rivermen would get more timely scoring – this time from Connor Jalbert – his 1st of the playoffs ending the opening 20 minutes with a 2-1 box score for the home side.
Undeterred and not phased, PG once again responded to the early game adversity. Tai Ushio proved to be the tonic as he lit the lamp at 4:47 of the second period unassisted.
Special teams slowly became a turning point in Game 4 as Giangualano struck for the second time – this time on the man-advantage beating Spruce Kings netminder Ryder Green for a 3-2 lead.
Not to be outdone, Ushio potted his second of the contest at the 17:30 mark on the power-play, which was set up by University of Guelph commit Marcus Lougheed.
A slow start to the third period proved costly as Zachary Benayon rippled the mesh for the first time in the series, giving the Rivermen a 4-3 edge.
Langley added to the lead with an empty-netter courtesy of Parker Forlin.
PG got a late power-play goal from Carter Hesselgrave with 21 seconds remaining to trim the deficit to 5-4 but simply ran out of time.
Langley outshot the Spruce Kings 32-31. PG went 2-for-5 on the man-advantage while the Rivermen scored on their lone opportunity.
Green made 27 saves on 31 shots in defeat while Rivermen netminder Eric Young posted the exact same stat line for the win.
The Coastal East Division first round series is tied at 2-2. Game 5 is set for Friday night at 7:00 at the Kopar Memorial Arena.
The series will then shift back to Langley for Game Six Sunday night at 5:00.
Should a 7th and deciding game be needed, that would be played Tuesday in Prince George.
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing pgnews@vistaradio.ca.
