The Edmonton Oil Kings scored three unanswered goals in the third period and beat the visiting Prince George Cougars 5-1 on Monday afternoon.
The Cats trailed just 2-1 heading into the final frame but surrendered goals to Lane Bauer, Brandon Baddock and Cole Benson in those last 20 minutes. On Bauer's key goal, he took a pass from Dyson Mayo, split through the Cougars' defence, and scored low on goaltender Ty Edmonds.
With the loss, the Cougars saw their Western Hockey League record drop to 23-33-2-2. They remained one point out of the B.C. Division's final playoff spot, currently held by the Vancouver Giants. Vancouver (24-30-1-2) also has three games in hand on Prince George. With 50 points, the Cougars are equal with the Kamloops Blazers, but the Blazers (22-30-3-3) have played two fewer games.
The rest of the scoring in Monday's contest happened in the first period. The Oil Kings jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Andrew Koep, on a power play, and Benson. Jansen Harkins got the Cougars on the board when he converted a rebound off a point shot by Tomas Andrlik. The goal was Harkins' 18th of the season and his 100th career WHL point.
The Oil Kings outshot the Cougars 43-31. Edmonton went 1-for-2 on the power play while Prince George was 0-for-4.
Tristan Jarry (19-21-3) was the winning goaltender, while Edmonds (20-22-2) took the loss.
The Cougars went 2-2-0-1 on their road trip and have picked up points in five of their past seven games.
The Cats will take on the Moose Jaw Warriors on Saturday (7 p.m.) at CN Centre. In their push to make the playoffs, they have 12 games left on their schedule.
