Two teams at opposite ends of the generosity spectrum will clash tonight at CN Centre.
The Everett Silvertips are the second-most miserly team in the Western Hockey League this season. Through 42 games they've allowed just 112 goals, an average of 2.54 per game. Only the league-leading Kelowna Rockets (2.53 average) have been better in that department.
Then there are the Prince George Cougars, who have served up a feast for opposition shooters. They've allowed 189 goals in 46 games for a 4.10 goals-against average. Only the Saskatoon Blades, who average 4.40 goals against, do that better than the Cougars.
So what does that mean for tonight's game. Probably not a whole lot.
Coming off a pair of weekend losses at home against Portland, the Cougars aren't going to worry about how many goals they've allowed thus far. They know their history and aren't worried about being doomed to repeat it. Their primary focus is getting back to winning hockey games.
Unfortunately for the Cougars, they're challenged the next two nights with the task of trying to knock off one of the hottest teams in the WHL. Everett (28-12-3-1) sits first in the U.S. Division, 18 points ahead of the Cougars (20-24-1-1), who are clinging to third place in the B.C. Division and the playoff position that third-place standing guarantees.
The Silvertips started 2015 by winning five of six games on their East Division tour. They blanked the surging Seattle Thunderbirds 6-0 Saturday in Everett and the Silvertips are 7-3-0-0 in their last 10 games.
As hot as the Silvertips have been in January, the Cougars' record since Christmas has been simply atrocious. Aside from wins in Victoria on Dec, 27, Kelowna on Dec. 30, and at home Jan. 6 against Tri-City, the Cats have lost nine games over that 12-game stretch and are in danger of stretching their losing streak to six games tonight. They've lost 11 of 14 since they went into Everett and beat the Silvertips 3-1 on Dec. 12, the only other meeting of the teams so far this season.
"They're a fast team, they don't give up much offensively," said Cougars defenceman Josh Connolly, who faced the Silvertips four times earlier this season as a member of the Kamloops Blazers.
"They score two goals and only rarely do they give up more than two. You have to be sound defensively and when you do get chances you have to score because they don't come very often. They're probably the best defensive team I've played. They have a few good players who can score, too, but they're not high-octane like the Winterhawks, but they don't give up much and it's going to be a tough test and we have to be ready for it."
Two Moscow-born Russians are among the Silvertips' top three scorers - former Saskatoon Blades RW Nikita Scherbak (20-35-55) and C Ivan Nikolishin (10-30-40). Scherback is a first-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens, picked 26th overall in 2014. RW Carson Stadnyk (16-26-42) is also close to a point-per-game pace. Other players to watch are D Ben Betker (Edmonton Oilers, sixth-round pick in 2014) and former Cougar LW Jake Mykitiuk, who has two goals and four points in 13 games since joining the Silvertips from St. Albert of the AJHL.
The Cougars had hoped to have import defenceman Tomas Andrlik ready for the Everett series but he's a questionable starter, recovering from a high ankle sprain. The Cougars acquired the 19-year-old Czech in a Jan. 6 trade with Prince Albert for a 12th-round pick in 2015. He has yet to play for Cougars.
The Cougars will also be without their leading scorer, C Jansen Harkins, who will miss both games while he's in St. Catharines, Ont., for the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Thursday.
