Tavin Grant is still listed as a rookie but played like a seasoned veteran in backstopping the Prince George Cougars to a 3-2 win over the Calgary Hitmen Sunday in Calgary.
The 16-year-old from Burnaby stopped 26 of 28 shots to earn his first WHL career victory and it couldn't have come at a better time for the Cougars.
Their win in front of 8,061 witnesses at the Scotiabank Saddledome snapped a four-game losing streak and salvaged two points after losing the previous two games of their weekend trip to Alberta.
Tyler Mrkonjic scored the winner 3:52 into the third period, giving the Cougars a 3-0 lead. But Hitmen leading scorer Greg Lang answered four minutes later with an even-strength goal and New York Rangers draft pick Adam Tambellini struck on the power play with three minutes left, setting the stage for a dramatic ending.
With Hitmen forward Jake Virtanen serving a roughing penalty, Calgary pulled goalie Evan Johnson for the extra skater for a 5-on-5 situation in the last minute and poured the pressure to the Cougars, coming close to scoring several times while keeping the play in the Prince George end. But Grant made the saves needed to preserve the victory.
Grant entered the game with an 8.07 goals-against average and .780 save percentage in 97 minutes played over four games.
"I think it's big for his development and I know he hasn't had the starts he's wanted when he has had an opportunity so its good for his confidence," said Cougars assistant coach Mike Hengen.
"This is an outstanding league and the kids have to put in the work themselves and it's our job to teach them along the way and you can't have those learning experiences, unfortunately, unless you falter. Tavin's had some opportunities to grow here lately and he's obviously been living honestly and doing a great job for himself and tonight it paid dividends for him."
As has been the case in 13 of their 16 games this season and all three games on the weekend trip, the Cougars opened the scoring. Head coach Mark Holick switched up his forward combinations and that paid off for Tyson Witala, who picked up his eighth of the season while playing right wing on a line with Chance Braid and Jari Erricson. Witala gained a loose puck behind the Edmonton net and banked it in off goalie Evan Johnson.
Kody McDonald made it 2-0 late in the period with a backhander. That play started when Aaron Boyd took the puck in deep and Colby McAuley applied a thundering bodycheck behind the net to dig the puck out for McDonald, a native of Lethbridge, who celebrated his second of the season.
Grant, in his second start of the season, made two stellar stops to keep the Oil Kings off the scoreboard in first period. He stoned Tambellini on a 2-on-1 chance and stuck out his leg to make a pad save, denying Radel Fasleev on a breakaway late in the period. The Hitmen ended up outshooting the Cats 28-22.
The win evened the Cougars' fourth-place B.C. Division record at 8-8-0-0. The Hitmen dropped to 7-6-0-0, third in the Central Division.
Both teams were playing their third game of the weekend in less than three days. The Cougars started Friday with a 6-3 loss to the Red Deer Rebels and lost 5-1 Saturday to the Oil Kings in Edmonton. The Hitmen opened the weekend in Cranbrook with a 9-2 win over the Kootenay Ice, then lost 7-5 to the Central Division-leading Medicine Hat Tigers in another road game Saturday.
Virtanen, a first-round pick of the Vancouver Canucks in 2014, is coming off shoulder surgery and collected two goals and two assists in his first games with the Hitmen this weekend since being sent down from the Canucks camp a month ago. The Cougars held held off the scoreboard Sunday.
In Edmonton, Erricson scored his team-leading 10th of the season to open the scoring 9:21 into the first period but Oil Kings goalie Tristan Jarry was flawless in net the rest of the game, making 27 saves in a 5-1 win.
Luke Bertolucci scored two goals for the defending Memorial Cup champions, who fired 35 shots at Ty Edmonds. Dysin Mayo, Edgars Kulda and Mitchell Walker, with his first career WHL goal also scored.
The Oil Kings had a decided edge on special teams. The Cougars were held without a goal in six power-play chances while Edmonton went 2-for-4.
The Cougars host the Kamloops Blazers Saturday night and Sunday afternoon at CN Centre.
