Prince George, BC: The Vipers ran into penalty trouble Friday night in Prince George and it would ultimately be their undoing as they fell 5-1 to the Spruce Kings.
The Vipers killed off an early penalty and it led to the first goal of the game as JoJo Tanaka-Campbell stepped out of the penalty box, spotted Ryan Shostak in behind the defense and he made no mistake making it 1-0 with his 11th of the season. Discipline was an issue and it continued to keep the Vipers in their own zone. The Spruce Kings looked like a team that was determined to end a winless streak and they’d use the powerplays to generate momentum. PG put up 12 shots in the opening period, but Ethan David was great turning them all aside.
The Spruce Kings evened it up 6-minutes into the second period as a point shot was stopped, but John Herrington poked home the rebound making it 1-1. The Vipers took 3 more penalties in the middle frame and were outshot 12-3, but still found themselves in a tight game, 1-1.
The levies broke in the third as the penalties finally caught up with the visitors. The Spruce Kings would rattle off 3 consecutive 5 on 3 powerplay goals from Herrington and two from Rheaume. A couple of misconducts followed for Vernon. Dylan Schives added another one making the final score 5-1.
The Vipers return home to take on Cranbrook at 2pm on Sunday.
