Spruce Kings take Alberni Valley to the dog pound

Just when you thought they were out, they pulled themselves back in.

After laying a massive egg against the Nanaimo Clippers, the Prince George Spruce Kings knew the margin for error was almost razor thin.

With that in mind, a four-goal explosion in the second period positioned the Spruce Kings to an emphatic 5-2 victory over the Alberni Valley Bulldogs in front of 1,450 fans at the Alberni Valley Multiplex.

Brady Anes and Nick Metelkin opened the scoring 2:15 seconds apart exposing Bulldogs goaltender Ryder Shea.

Kazumo Saskai got in on the offensive showcase lighting the lamp twice. The 19-year-old capitalized on a Corson Maguire pass to make it 3-0 PG.

Sasaki doubled his pleasure, this time capping off a feed from Owen Goodbrand who collected his first point of the BCHL season.

Samuel Leonard spoiled the shutout bid of Ryder Green at the 19:59 mark of the middle period on power-play to trim Alberni Valley’s deficit to 4-1.

There were some chippy moments in the second as the Bulldogs Caden Tremblay received a five-minute major for cross-checking at the 13:28 mark followed by a misconduct.

Seventeen seconds later, a mini donnybrook ensued as Metelkin, Trent Ballentyne and Isaac Holt all received misconducts while Zeke Nicholson and Cedricson Okitundu suffered the same fate.

Okitundu also fought Holt as both were given majors but it would be the Bulldogs blueliner struck with an additional minor.

Goodbrand scored his first of the season at 6:16 of the third period on the power-play. Cole Bishop replied for Alberni Valley.

The Spruce Kings (13-19-3-1) outshot the Bulldogs (19-15-2-0) 44-25, this included a 26-9 stretch in the second period. PG went 1-for-4 on the power play while Alberni Valley was 1-for-2.

Green picked up the 23-save victory for PG as the Island road swing continues tonight (6pm) against the Victoria Grizzlies (20-9-6-0).

PG is six points out of the final playoff spot in the Coastal Conference, trailing both the Nanaimo Clippers and Langley Rivermen (15-16-5-1). Nanaimo won 5-4 in overtime against Victoria on Friday while the Rivermen were idle.