Langley, BC – Friday night it was the penalty kill, but Saturday night the Langley Rivermen rode a hot power play en route to a 5-2 win over the visiting Powell River Kings for a fourth straight win on home ice.
For the second game in a row, Captain Mitch McLain had a three-point night including the Rivermen's first goal in the second period, the Teddy Bear Toss goal, in which hundreds of stuffed animals were launched onto the ice to be donated to local charities.
The first period was pretty even between the two division leaders but the Kings took a 1-0 lead late as Jarid Lukosevicius scored shorthanded. The second, however, belonged to the Rivermen who scored four straight goals, three of them on the power play. McLain got things started at the 4:33 mark finding the top corner off a feed from Matt Ustaski. Just over two minutes later, also on the power play, Zach Urban one-timed a Viktor Dombrovskiy cross-ice pass behind Jeff Smith for his first of the season, and first with the Rivermen, to give Langley the 2-1 lead.
Midway through the second Jakob Reichert jammed home his 12th of the season to put the Rivermen up by two. Then on their fifth power play of the game, Kevan Kilistoff scored his fifth of the season putting home his own rebound to give Langley a three goal lead.
The Kings handed the Rivermen a five minute power play as Lucas Grayson was given a rare solo five minute fighting major along with a game misconduct, but Langley could not add anything on the big power play chance which carried over into the third. The Kings cut the lead to two with Lukosevicius' second of the game midway through the frame which sparked the visitors as Powell River dominated the second half of the third with several quality scoring chances. But it was the Rivermen who got the final marker of the game as McLain slid home the empty netter for his second of the game and 17th on the season.
The Rivermen improve to 22-11-1-2 and now lead the division by seven points having racked up four straight wins on home ice. Brock Crossthwaite made 30 saves for his seventh win in his last eight starts. The Rivermen can make it a six-point weekend with a win Sunday afternoon against the visiting Nanaimo Clippers as Langley looks to head into the Christmas break on a solid streak.
Puck drop Sunday is 2:00pm at the Langley Events Centre.
