After seeing their 12-game point streak come to an end, the Langley Rivermen went right back to their winning ways.
The junior A hockey club lost 3-1 to the Prince George Spruce Kings on Feb. 13 but rebounded to win 4-3 the next night. Both games were at the Prince George Coliseum in a first-place showdown for top spot in the BCHL’s Mainland Division.
The split leaves Langley (33-13-2-5, 73 points) with an eight-point cushion over Prince George (30-18-3-2, 65 points) as both teams have five games remaining in the regular season.
That includes three head-to-head contests to close the season.
In the teams’ games last week, Prince George struck for three goals in the first seven minutes and that was more than enough offence to hand the Rivermen their first regulation loss since the end of December.
Zach Urban had the lone Langley goal in the loss.
The rematch saw the Rivermen jump out to a 3-0 lead a dozen minutes into the game as Tanner Johnson, Marcus Vela and Matt Ustaski all struck for goals. Prince George cut the lead to 3-2 after one period and then tied things up in the second.
But Evan Anderson scored the game-winner 2:42 into the third period.
Brock Crossthwaite stopped 24 shots in the victory. Crossthwaite was given the hook after allowing two goals on five shots the game before. Lyndon Stanwood stopped 22 of the 23 shots he faced in relief.
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The Rivermen host the Coquitlam Express tonight (Tuesday) at the Langley Events Centre. Game time is 7:15 p.m. The team also hosts Chilliwack on Friday and Prince George on Sunday before closing with a pair of road games against the Spruce Kings.
