Prince George Cougars centre Jansen Harkins scored two third-period goals and was in close proximity to linemate Radovan Bondra when the Slovakian winger picked up a loose puck and fired the game-winning shot into the Calgary Hitmen net with 2:36 left.
The road-weary Cougars, playing their fourth game in five nights, survived a late-game surge and hung on to beat the Hitmen 5-4 in front of a crowd of 6,607 in Calgary on Saturday.
The Cougars won three of four games on their trip, which started Tuesday with a 4-1 loss in Red Deer. They rallied to defeat Medicine Hat 5-4 on Wednesday, then on Friday posted one of their biggest comebacks in franchise history, overcoming a 5-1 third–period deficit to defeat the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-5 in a shootout.
“We’re not satisfied with the way we played in three of the four games,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. “We didn’t play well in Red Deer and didn’t deserve to win there and the next night in Medicine Hat it was a good hockey game by both clubs and we just stuck with it for 60 minutes. After the terrible first two periods in Lethbridge, the guys found a way to stick with the game plan and did the right things and played our system to a T in the third period and it paid off. That was crazy.”
Saturday in Calgary, the Cougars were trailing 3-2 in the third period when Harkins was set up in front by Colby McAuley after a cross-ice feed from Bondra. That gave Harkins an open net to tuck in his first of the night and 11th of the season, 7:20 into the period.
Harkins then gave the Cougars the lead at the 12:54 mark when he got to his own rebound and chipped it in off the body of Hitmen goalie Trevor Martin. The puck bounced high and dropped behind Martin into the goal.
Bondra scored unassisted for his second goal in three games since being acquired last week in a trade from the Vancouver Giants. He also had two assists, giving him five points since the trade was made Jan. 10.
Matvichuk said the Bondra line, with Harkins at centre and McAuley at right wing, has shown great chemistry together and had some dominant shifts in Calgary and he intends to leave them together this week.
“They keep doing the right things and that’s the key to their success knowing they’ve got two guys in on the forecheck and the other guy waiting high to pounce before the first pass is made and they’re all quick enough to get to the right spots when they have to and they’ve all been a physical presence,” Matvichuk said.
“Bondra is very cool, calm and collected and he knows the game very well. He’s a very smart hockey player and you can just see by his poise that’s why he’s represented his country three times already at the world junior tournament.”
The Cougars also got great mileage out of the line centred by Brogan O’Brien, with Nikita Popugaev on the left side and Jesse Gabrielle on the right. Both wingers are playing their off-sides and that's led to some dangerous one-timers. O’Brien has emerged as one of the top forwards on the team the past two months and his two goals late in the game in Lethbridge were key in the comeback.
Rookie Josh Maser opened the scoring 2:10 into the game Saturday, his third goal since being called up to the Cougars from the junior B Kamloops Storm. Brad Morrison gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead in the first period, cashing in a 2-on-1 chance with Josh Curtis.
Mark Kastelic, Matteo Gennaro, Jake Bean (on a Calgary power play) and Beck Malenstyn were the Hitmen goal-scorers. Malenstyn’s goal came late in the game with Martin on the bench for the extra skater.
Ty Edmonds was busy in the Cougar nets, called upon to make 48 saves while his team was being outshot 51-29. The Hitmen finished 1-for-5 on the power play. The Cougars were 0-for-3.
The Cougars (31-12-2-0) dropped one point behind the Regina Pats for first overall in the WHL standings after the Pats defeated Prince Albert 5-1 Sunday afternoon. The Hitmen (15-20-4-2) remained out of a playoff spot, ranked fifth in the Central Division.
The Cougars will be back on the ice at CN Centre Tuesday night to take on the Portland Winterhawks in the first of a two-game set. In the only meeting between the teams this season, Nov. 27 in Portland, the Winterhawks won 6-3.
Portland (22-19-1-0, fourth in U.S. Division) holds the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference. The 'Hawks have three forwards producing at a point-per-game pace or better, including 17-year-old Cody Glass (21-36-57, 12th in WHL scoring race), Skyler McKenzie (28-22-50) and Keegan Iverson (14-32-46). They have a mobile defence that likes to join the rush, led by Caleb Jones (4-29-33), the 19-year-old brother of Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Seth Jones. The Portland defence also includes 17-year-old Finn, Henri Jokiharju (6-22-28), Keoni Texeira (8-18-26) and former Cougar Shaun Dosanjh.
“They’re a young team but very skilled,” said Matvichuk. “They skate very well and the strength of them is the defencemen and the way they move the puck. You have to keep an eye on them and get pucks deep and put the pressure on them.”
The Cougars are still dealing with a flu bug which took centre Aaron Boyd out of the lineup Saturday. Sam Ruopp and Tate Olson were also out with upper-body injuries and are day-to-day decisions. Jonas Harkins, 16, played about 11 minutes of Saturday’s game on loan from the Cariboo Cougars major midget team.
