Spruce Kings in survival mode
hour trip south failed to produce the answers. On the wide Olympic-sized rink at South Surrey Arena they lost both games, a 5-1 defeat Monday followed by a 4-0 decision Tuesday, pushing Prince George to the brink of playoff elimination.
“They’re doing a better job around the net I think and it’s been tough for us to find loose pucks,” said Kings head coach Adam Maglio. “You score nine goals and sometimes that can set you up as a recipe for failure. Guys feel good about themselves, and you think it might come a little easier than it’s going to. You might only get five or six Grade-A chances and if you don’t capitalize and the other team does, that’s going to be the difference.”
Outscored 9-1 and outshot 6354 in the two games in Surrey, the Spruce Kings are hoping a return to familiar haunts will break them out of their scoring slump. They have to run the table and win three straight or their season is finished.
“We played really well in (Game 2), as far as chances for and against, and the possession time it was the same (as Game 1), we just didn’t capitalize on our chances,” said Maglio. “It’s not necessarily a defensive series, on that big ice it’s a different game and we’ve been caught outside the dots on a couple of goals against and they made some good plays on some odd-man attacks. It’s two completely different rink sizes and your game isn’t going to translate well from one rink to the other.”
The 200-foot by 100-foot rink has given the Kings trouble all season. They also lost all four regular- season games in Surrey. Maglio liked how his team played through much of Game 4 but a three-goal lead proved insurmountable.
“We didn’t play poorly but a couple mistakes early and it was in the back of our net,” said Maglio. “We have to try and score first here, that’s been the Achilles heel in the last three. For two periods we were OK, I thought we were playing better. I think if we play like we did in Game 1 and Game 2 we’ll have success. We have a good enough team to keep playing.”
The Kings’ long climb for survival resumes with Game 5 tonight at 7 at Rolling Mix Concrete Arena. Game 6, if it goes that far, is set for Saturday night in Surrey and if Game 7 is needed, RMCA will be the place to be Sunday night.
After the opening game whitewash, Eagles head coach Brandon West wanted his team to wipe the slate clean and resume the series as if that had been a one-goal loss. They’ve done that and now have the first-place team in the division backed into a corner.
“I think we’re just sticking to the process right now, it’s been a really tight series despite the scores and we’ve earned some bounces we didn’t get in the first game,” said West.
“If we look back at the first two games, we probably didn’t play to our structure and we didn’t get enough offensive zone time and the last two we’ve spent more time in the offensive zone and earned some bounces and have been better on defence.”
Penalties were a factor in Game 3. Three of the five Eagles goals came with a Spruce King in the box and Surrey had seven powerplay chances, just like they did in Game 4 when they scored on one of them. That was Jackson Ross’s third of the playoffs and it capped the scoring in the third period after Surrey took a commanding lead early, scoring three goals on nine shots in the first 11 minutes. The Eagles power play has connected 27.6 per cent of the time in 40 playoff opportunities, while the Spruce Kings have only scored on 8.6 per cent of their 35 chances.
“The one thing about our power play is we felt we had real good looks all year, we just seemed to never get those bounces and right now we’re getting those,” said West. “We’ve been able to get to the net the last couple games and that’s where playoff success happens, in those tough areas. We’re getting contributions from everybody, every line has gotten on the scoresheet and it’s a group effort.”
Surrey’s top line of John Wesley, Tyler Westgard and Desi Burgart has been tough to contain. They were in on two of the goals Saturday, scored two of the five in Game 3 and had one in Game 4. Cavaliere has been great in the last three games, only allowing three goals and West says his proven track record as a junior A playoff performer in Ontario was the reason the Eagles acquired him at the January deadline
Maglio moved Ethan de Jong to centre on a line with Ben Brar and Patrick Cozzi to try to give his leading scorer more touches of the puck. The Kings have struggled at winning faceoffs, especially on the left side, obviously missing the strength of top-line centre Ben Poisson, still sidelined after a ruptured spleen.
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We didn’t play poorly but a couple mistakes early and it was in the back of our net.
— Spruce Kings head coach Adam Maglio
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The Eagles have scored three or four goals in the last three games as a direct result of offensive zone faceoff wins. Westgard, Jeffrey Stewart and Connor Sundquist have been dominant on the draws.
The Eagles sport a 7-3 record so far in the playoffs, while the Kings are 5-6.
“We’re obviously having fun with this start to the playoffs, there’s an eagerness in our group with a lot of guys moving on to college hockey and they want to go out with a bang,” said West.
“That maturity we do have in the room right now is helping us. Every game we have to get better and we have some great guys leading the charge right now.”