The Chilliwack Chiefs stomped the Prince George Spruce Kings 10-1 Saturday night at Prospera Centre, evening their best-of-five first round BCHL playoff series at one win apiece.
After scoring just once on 44 shots in a 3-1 loss Friday night, the Chiefs opted for quality plus quantity in the game two scoring explosion.
They got 47 shots in this one, but less from the outside and far more activity around the Prince George saw the Chiefs tie a franchise record for most goals in a playoff game and set a mark for most lopsided playoff win.
Heading north for games three and four, Spruce Kings netminder Kirk Thompson now seems mortal and the Chilliwack shooters must have a ton of confidence.
The Chiefs took fifty nine minutes and 57 seconds to puck behind Thompson Friday night.
They took 3:03 to beat him Saturday night, with Austin Plevy pulling the trigger. The Langley kid beat him clean with an unscreened wrister from the left faceoff dot, rifling the puck over the goalie's glove to open the scoring.
Chilliwack doubled the lead 1:02 later on a snipe by Philip Zielonka, who beat Thompson with another unscreened shot from the top of the slot.
Spruce Kings coach Dave Dupas called a timeout to settle his troops, and it helped... briefly.
But the Chiefs added to their lead at 11:30 on a power play goal by Alex Perron Fontaine. Thompson might have been partially screened on this one , a bullet from the mid-point that put Chilliwack up 3-0.
With their opponents on the ropes to begin period two, the Chiefs moved in for the knockout.
Two minutes and two seconds in, Trevor Hills got his stick on a Jaret Babych shot, deflecting it past Thompson for his first of the playoffs.
At 13:16, Zielonka crashed the net in pursuit of the rebound from a Mathieu Tibbett shot, did a 360 spin in the crease and swept the puck past Thompson, ending the goalie's night.
Liam McLeod took over in net and kept the lid on for the rest of the period.
After a spectacular fire dancing intermission show featuring Fernando Ford, things got off to a scrappin' start in the third.
Chilliwack's Ben Masella got PG's attention with a boarding minor, and had to answer a challenge from Lyndon Martell.
Once their gloves and sticks were picked up, the Chiefs went back to scoring goals.
With Skylar Pechaco (unsportsmanlike conduct) and Mark Begart (slashing) in the penalty box for Prince George and Chilliwack on a five-on-three power play, Perron-Fontaine launched a one-timer from the high slot.
Josh Hansen crashed the net and chipped the rebound past McLeod.
Less than a minute later, Hills took a nifty feed from Spencer Graboski and snapped it past McLeod for the seventh Chiefs goal.
Hills got the hat-trick marker with 6:23 left, skating into the crease to shovel a rebound past McLeod.
Prince George did get one in the third period.
Bryant Christian banked a puck off Kiefer McNaughton's skate and in to break up Mitch Gillam's shutout bid.
With the game well in hand, Gillam was pulled with nine minutes remaining, replaced by backup Josh Halpenny.
By the end of the game, with all the misconducts counted up, the Spruce Kings were down to 13 skaters.
Ryan Donohoe netted his first of the postseason with 1:39 left to make it 9-1, and Tanner Burns one-timed a power play feed from Kiefer McNaughton with less than a second left to wrap up the scoring.
The Fortis BC Energy Player was Graboski.
The three stars were Zielonka (first), Hills (second) and David Thompson (third).
Game three is Monday night in Prince George.