Consecutive weekend wins on the road over their B.C. Division rivals in the WHL have chased away the dark clouds that were hanging over the Prince George Cougars.
Saturday night in Kamloops, Jansen Harkins sparked the Cougars with two goals and two assists in a 6-3 win over the Blazers which moved the Cats into third place in the division.
Defenceman Marc McNulty also got into the act with his most productive game of the season, finishing with a goal and two assists and a third-period fight to complete his Gordie Howe hat trick. Even Chance Braid came out of the woodwork, chipping in a rebound for his second goal of the season to cap the scoring less than a minute after he assisted on Harkins' second goal late in the game.
Ty Edmonds delivered yet another solid outing in net for Prince George, making 26 saves. That came a day after he backstopped the Cougars with a 37-save gem to complete a come-from-behind 4-3 win over the high-flying Kelowna Rockets Friday in Kelowna.
So what triggered the sudden turnaround after the Cougars looked so stale in two convincing Wednesday losses on consecutive weeks at home to Regina and Prince Albert? Maybe it was just a change of scenery that was needed. Or maybe the Cougars just decided it was time to act when they noticed they were ahead of only three of the 22 WHL teams in the standings as they boarded that bus heading south. Whatever the reason, the mood around the CN Centre dressing room will be downright cheery as the Cougars await their chance to play in front of a sellout crowd for Tuesday's Teddy Bear Toss Night encounter with the Saskatoon Blades.
The four-point weekend brought the Cougars (15-15-0-0) back to the .500 mark, a point ahead of the Blazers (12-15-3-2) and four behind the second-place Victoria Royals (16-14-2-0), who have played two more games than the Cougars.
"When you beat Kelowna in their barn you know you can beat anybody in the league and I think the guys were ready for [Saturday's game]," said Cougars assistant coach Roman Vopat.
All of the Kamloops goals came on power plays as they went three-for-seven with the man advantage. The Cougars' penalty-killers were under siege all weekend. On Friday they held the Rockets and their top-ranked power play to one goal in nine opportunities.
Kamloops defenceman Michael Fora triggered the stuffed-toy celebration 8:36 into the second period to make it a 2-1 game, a few minutes after Zach Pochiro added to the lead McNulty gave the Cats in the first period with a hard low slapper from the point. Harkins and defenceman Tate Olson stretched the lead to 4-1 before penalties started taking a toll on the Cougars late in the second period. Matt Revel was at the receiving end of a Josh Connolly pass and scored on Edmonds just before the break and Blazers captain Matt Needham shoveled a rebound in to make it a one-goal game, raising the tension on the Cougars' bench.
But with less than three minutes left, Braid sprung former Blazer Aaron Macklin free on a 2-on-1 break with Harkins and he dished off to the 17-year-old centre, who picked the corner on Cole Kehler. Harkins returned the favour 31 seconds later with a pass to Braid which ended up in the net.
"We had a good first period and we actually took our foot off the pedal a little bit in the second period and let them get back into the game," said Vopat. "We were undisciplined and took unnecessary penalties and they capitalized. We had some chances on our power play and we didn't [score], so the third period was a little scary, but the last 10 minutes we came out hard and got those two extra goals."
The Cougars outshot the Blazers 35-29.
