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Rivermen take game two, series shifts to Prince George tied at one

Spruce Kings steal away home-ice advantage with 1-0 game one victory
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Ben Butcher celebrates after scoring the Langley Rivermen's first goal in a 4-2 victory in game two of the team's best-of-seven playoff series against the Prince George Spruce Kings. Butcher's goal snapped a 88:16 shutout streak by Prince George's Jesse Jenks, who stopped everything he faced in a 1-0 game one victory the night before.

The Langley Rivermen power play helped the team even their best-of-seven playoff series at one game apiece.

The Rivermen scored power-play goals less than two minutes apart in the middle of the second period en route to a 4-2 victory against the Prince George Spruce Kings in game two of the BCHL Mainland Division semifinal series on Wednesday (March 4) night at the Langley Events Centre.

Langley was down 1-0 in the second period — after losing game one the night before by that score — when Ben Butcher finally beat Spruce Kings goalie Jesse Jenks.

"It was just a matter of time," said Langley captain Kevan Kilistoff.

"We had lots of chances, a couple of posts, missed some empty nets. We just kept going at it and knew it would (eventually) go in."

Matthew Graham would score to make it 2-1 and then less than five minutes later, Hunter Anderson struck to make it 3-1 before intermission.

Prince George's Viktor Dombrovskiy made it 3-2 early in the third, but Bo Didur did the rest, making eight saves in the period — and 24 overall — with Kilistoff scoring into the empty net.

Jordan Schneider had a pair of assists for the Rivermen while Michael Buonincontri had opened the scoring for the Spruce Kings.

In game one, neither team could score for the first 58 minutes. But with 66 seconds to play, Prince George's Daniel Nachbaur scored an unassisted marker in the 1-0 victory.

The series shifts to Prince George for games three and four on March 6 and 7.

"1-1 and being down two games is a big difference," Kilistoff said.

"We didn't want to be in that position."

Rivermen coach Bobby Henderson said he was happy with team's resolve in the first two games, especially after going four periods without a goal.

"It is easy to get discouraged if you don't score early," the coach said.

"The guys kept their composure and really settled down."

Not helping the offence was the fact his team took four minor penalties in the opening stanza of game two.

"I think we wasted a lot of energy on the (penalty) kill," Henderson said.

"You can't really generate when you are (short-handed).

"They bought into staying out of the box and gave themselves a chance to generate some momentum."

The series returns to the LEC for game five on Monday (March ). Game time is 7 p.m.