After the Vernon Vipers beat Prince George in back-to-back games last weekend, the Spruce Kings got their revenge with a 6-5 overtime win Friday night, March 29.
It was nearly a regulation loss for the Vipers, but defenceman Noah Dorey scored his second of the night with just 1.1 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
Prince George out-shot the Vipers 29 to 27, but the Spruce Kings also had five powerplays while the Vipers had none.
Julian Facchinelli opened the scoring early in the first, his 13th of the season, but Linden Makow answered for the Spruce Kings about a minute later.
Spruce Kings pivot Owen Goodbrand then found some magic, scoring a powerplay goal late in the first period and an even strength goal early in the second to make it 3-1 for the visiting Kings.
Dorey scored his first goal of the night just past the two minute mark of the second, but Luca Primerano then found the back of the net to make it 4-2 Prince George.
An early third period goal by Kazumo Sasaki put the Vipers in a hole, down three goals with less than 19 minutes to play.
But the momentum quickly shifted as Carson McGinley and Hank Cleaves scored about a minute apart to make it a 5-4 hockey game.
The crowd at Kal Tire Place went into a frenzy when Dorey scored his last-second goal to send the game to overtime, assisted by Owen Kim and Cleaves.
But in overtime it was Skogen Schrott who buried the puck past Vipers goalie Ethan David to secure the win for Prince George.
The Vipers are now down to their final game of the regular season, which they play against the Powell River Kings at home Saturday at 6 p.m. It’s a game that won’t have an impact on the BC Hockey League standings; as the fourth seed in the Interior conference, the Vipers are already set to face the fifth-seed Trail Smoke Eaters in round one of the playoffs.
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