Matthew Culling took care of the Vernon Vipers’ offence Monday afternoon, Feb. 22, at Kal Tire Place.
Culling scored both goals to help the Vipers take care of the visiting Prince George Spruce Kings 2-1 in a B.C. Hockey League Family Day afternoon game in front of 2,434 fans.
Vernon won five of the seven meetings with Prince George this season, with six of the seven games decided by one goal. The other was a 3-1 PG victory.
The Spruce Kings were looking to complete a three-game Okanagan-Shuswap long weekend sweep, having beaten the conference-leading Penticton Vees and second-place Salmon Arm Silverbacks.
Culling opened the scoring at 3:35 of the first period but the lead lasted less than three minutes as John Herrington tied the game on a Spruce Kings powerplay at 6:40.
The winner came at 1:24 of the third period as Culling scored his 10th of the season.
Roan Clarke made 28 saves to pick up the win in net for Vernon while Jordan Fairlie stopped 18 shots for Prince George.
The win improves Vernon’s record to 20-16-4-3 and moves the Snakes to within one point of the fifth-place Cranbrook Bucks in the Interior Conference. Prince George (25-10-3-6) remains in third place, five points behind Salmon Arm and six points up on the fourth-place West Kelowna Warriors.
The Vipers play in Trail Friday before returning home to host Penticton Sunday, Feb. 27. Game time will be 5 p.m. at Kal Tire Place.
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