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Pats pound on Cats

Morgan Klimchuk continues to make up for lost time with the Regina Pats.
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Morgan Klimchuk continues to make up for lost time with the Regina Pats.

Slowed by a wrist injury suffered in the Calgary Flames' training camp that forced him to miss nine games, the 19-year-old right winger showed the Prince George Cougars why he's worthy to play for Canada's world junior team.

Kilmchuk's two-goal outburst thwarted the Cougars' attempts to win their only game of the week, a 5-2 loss in front of a CN Centre crowd of 2,316. Klimchuk's second goal seven minutes into the second period - a one-timer on a give-and-go passing play with Sam Steel - made it a 4-1 game and that really took the stuffing out of the Cougars, who struggled throughout the game to find their rhythm against a tight-checking, pinpoint-passing Pats team.

Klimchuk, a first-rounder in 2013 who now has eight goals and 17 points in 16 games, just missed notching the hat trick when he nailed the goalpost on a Pats power play with 10 seconds left in the game.

The Pats found their skating legs early and dictated a lot of the play. They won most of the puck possession battles in a fast-paced first period and were rewarded with a pair of goals. The first came on a 2-on-1 rush that started when the puck skipped over the stick of Cougars defenceman Joseph Carvalho at the Regina blueline. Ukranian-born Pavel Padakin laid a pass into the slot for Adam Brooks, whose one-timer got through Grant. Then at 15:37, Steel fed a pass from behind the net to Klimchuk standing just off the post and he picked the corner high to Grant's glove side.

Morgan Gay made it a 3-0 count seven minutes into the second period, pouncing on a fat rebound in the slot. That spelled the end of the night for the rookie Grant, who allowed three goals on 13 shots. Ty Edmonds was solid in relief, allowing two goals on 18 shots, but he couldn't ignite a flat group of Cougars.

"We were flat from the get-go and we deserved what we got tonight," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "Nothing will work if you don't and we didn't work tonight. We sold our 16-year-old goalie down the river. We were very undisciplined and played with a lot of selfishness."

Jari Erricson finally solved Daniel Wapple, 9:14 into the second period. Erricson was sprung free on a long pass up the left wing from Zach Pochiro and he finished with a pretty backhand deke for his team-leading 14th of the season.

The Cougars got a bit of life early in the third period when Jared Bethune let go a long slapper from just over the blueline that got behind Wapple's glove. But Russian import Sergey Zborovskiy put the game out of reach, cashing in from the side of the net after some quick puck movement on a Regina power-play chance.

Tempers flared near the end of the game and Erricson took a major cross-checking penalty and game misconduct which will likely result in a suspension.

LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars D Marc McNulty has resumed skating and should be ready to play in the Cats' next game on Wednesday, Dec. 3 when they host Prince Albert. RW Chase Witala sat out his second game with a leg injury he suffered in Friday's game in Kamloops. LW Aaron Macklin served the first of a two-game suspension for taking part in a fight against the Giants' Dakota Odgers right after the opening faceoff in Saturday's game in Vancouver... Vancouver Giants head coach Troy Ward has been fired and the team is now searching for his replacement. Ward took over the Giants' bench in the off-season from Don Hay, who signed with the Kamloops Blazers... The Flames have placed former Cougar forward Devin Setoguchi on waivers. Unless he gets picked by another NHL team, Setoguchi will be sent to the Flames' AHL affiliate in Adiriondack, N.Y. Setoguchi collected 65 points in 55 regular season games for the Cats in 2006-07 and went on to lead the team with 11 goals and 21 assists in 15 playoff games.