They've done it twice this season.
Tonight in Everett the erratic Prince George Cougars will find out if they can stretch a winning streak to four games, this time at the expense of the high-flying Silvertips.
After wins on the road in Kelowna and Kamloops and an emotional home-ice victory on Teddy Bear Toss Night against the Saskatoon Blades on Tuesday in front 4,800 people, the Cougars (16-15-0-0) will try to keep that winning feeling intact when they face the Silvertips for the first time this season.
Everett (18-7-3-1, first in the U.S. Division) is coming off a 4-3 shootout win Tuesday over the Tri-City Americans, but the Silvertips have been lukewarm lately, winners of just one of their previous five games
Individually, the Silvertips have been getting great production from their Moscow-born dynamic duo - 19-year-old right winger Nikita Scherbak and 18-year-old centre Ivan Nikolishin. The Russian imports rank 1-2 respectively in team scoring. Scherbak has 14 goals, 23 assists and 37 points in 24 games, while Nikolishin is on a point-per-game pace with eight goals and 29 points.
Former Cougar left winger Jake Mykitiuk should be in the Everett lineup tonight for his fourth game back in the WHL since rejoining the league after two seasons in the AJHL with Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove. Mykitiuk had one assist in Tuesday's game against Tri-City.
Expect Cougars winger Jari Erricson to get fired up to play his former team. Erricson, 20, played his 16- and 17-year-old seasons with the Silvertips before he was traded to the Cougars. He's third in team scoring with 14 goals, 13 assists and 27 points in 29 games. Jansen Harkins (9-25-34) and Chase Witala (16-17-33) lead the Cats in scoring.
The Cougars will be without captain and top defenceman Sam Ruopp. The league suspended him as further punishment after he received a kneeing major and game misconduct in Tuesday's game when he collided with Blades forward Nick Zajac. Zajac, who appeared to jump out of the way at the point of contact to try to avoid the full force of Ruopp's check, had to be helped off the ice but returned later in the game.
The Cougars strung four wins together in October with home victories over Lethbridge, Vancouver (twice) and a road win Seattle. That streak came to a crashing halt with a 9-1 loss in Vancouver, followed by three more losses on their Alberta swing. But they ended that trip with a one-goal triumph in Calgary, then beat Kamloops twice and Victoria once at CN Centre, the only other time they've enjoyed a four-game ride.
The Cougars will be in Spokane to take on the Don Nachbaur-coached Chiefs on Saturday. The Chiefs are coming to CN Centre next Tuesday and Wednesday, the last games before the Cougars' nine-day Christmas break. Nachbaur, who grew up in Prince George, became the fourth WHL head coach to reach the 600-win plateau and now has 612 career wins. The Chiefs (14-12-3-0) will try to end a five-game losing streak tonight in Portland.
LOOSE PUCKS: From the rich keep getting richer department, the Kelowna Rockets have acquired 19-year-old defenceman Josh Morrissey along with left winger Gage Quinney in a trade from the Prince Albert Raiders. Going the other way were right winger Austin Glover, 18, and defenceman Jesse Lees, 19, and bantam draft picks in 2016 (second round) and 2017 (third round). Morrissey was the second-highest scoring defenceman in the WHL last season with 28 goals and 73 points in 59 games. He has seven goals and 14 assists in 26 games for the Raiders this season. Morrissey, a Winnipeg Jets first-rounder (13th overall in 2013) played for Canada in last year's world junior tournament and is vying for a spot on this year's team along with Rockets Rourke Chartier and Madison Bowey... Peter Anholt took over Thursday as head coach and general manager of the Lethbridge Hurricanes. He replaces head coach Drake Berehowsky and GM Brad Robson, who were fired earlier this week. Brad Robson is the father of former Cougar captain Blake Robson, currently the Hurricanes' head scout. Anholt has served as a WHL head coach with the Prince Albert Raiders, Red Deer Rebels, Kelowna and the Seattle Thunderbirds. He was working as a T-birds scout when the Hurricanes hired him.
