After seeing their eight-game winning streak come to an end with a pair of home-ice losses to the Everett Silvertips, the Prince George Cougars didn't take long to get back on the gravy train.
A convincing 5-2 win Saturday over the Tri-City Americans kept the Cougars perfect on the road, their sixth win in enemy territory since the season began. The Cats improved to 10-2-0-0, becoming the first team in the Western Hockey League to reach double digits in the win column.
Bartek Bison, Yan Khomenko, Brogan O’Brien, Justin Almeida and Jesse Gabrielle (with an empty-netter), were the Cougar marksmen. Defenceman Sam Ruopp had three assists. Vladislav Lukin and Morgan Geekie scored for the Americans (5-4-0-0), who lost for the first time this season on home ice.
“We were very well-structured, our energy was there,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk in the post-game broadcast.
“Surprising enough we woke up and had breakfast at 10 o’clock and we never had one guy who looked like he was tired and we got to the game and it continued here. That was probably our best game of the season.”
Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Cougars were at their best in the second period, outscoring the Americans 3-1 while outshooting them 13-7.
O’Brien’s game-winner, 18:52 into the second period, put the Cats up 3-1. Ruopp threaded a perfect stretch pass to spring O’Brien on a breakaway and his shot beat goalie Rylan Parenteau.
“He was fantastic, that’s the best game he’s played this year – that line was great,” said Matvichuk. “Yan was good on the left and (Kody) McDonald has been doing the little things great since Day 1. They put the work in and tonight was kind of a breakout game for Obie and we love to see it.”
O’Brien, the first star of the game, also assisted on Khomenko’s second-period goal, the fourth of the season for the Russian import. He left the game in the third period with an apparent knee injury.
Ty Edmonds drew his second-straight start in the Cougars’ net, making 21 saves to improve his record to 7-1. The Cats fired 36 shots at Parenteau.
The Cougars’ line of Josh Curtis, Ethan O’Rourke and Colby McAuley (the third star) was also effective, despite being held off the scoresheet.
“We really feel we’re four lines deep now with six defencemen who can play in any situation and we kind of rotate everybody in the penalty kill, the power play and 5-on-5 and I really believe it’s giving us the edge in these back-to-back games because we are fresher,” said Matvichuk.
“It’s about hard work. We know the system we want to play and it’s hard to play and the good thing is we’re getting close. We’re 10-2 – we’re not there yet but guys are doing the right thing and when things go wrong their work back to our end has just been fantastic and that’s been the difference in hockey games.”
Both teams were 0-for-3 on the power play.
Cougars leading scorer Brad Morrison was scratched Saturday after getting decked by an open-ice hit from Seattle Thunderbirds defenceman Turner Ottenbreit late in the third period Friday in Kent, Wash., where the Cougars defeated the T-Birds 3-2 in a shootout.
The Cougars will return to CN Centre tonight to take on the Swift Current Broncos. Game time is 7 p.m.
