In the fight for their playoff lives, the Prince George Cougars may have flat-lined.
The Cougars, desperate for a win against the Seattle Thunderbirds to make up ground in the chase for the Western Hockey League post-season, lost 3-1 Tuesday night at CN Centre. The T-birds are one of the teams the Cats have to catch and pass in the Western Conference standings to get into the playoffs. Instead, they fell four points behind the ninth-place Thunderbirds and remained five back of the eighth-place Everett Silvertips. The Cougars need a top-eight finish and now have just six games left to earn the necessary points.
The Cats were down 2-1 in the third period and were still in position to pull out a win. But, at 11:01 of the third, Connor Sanvido kept the puck on a two-on-one break and fired off the right wing through the pads of Prince George goaltender Drew Owsley.
In such an important game, the Cougars didn't play with enough passion. They did outshoot the visitors 10-4 in the third period but that wasn't nearly enough to get the desired result. Their top player on the night was diminutive Jake Mykitiuk, a 16-year-old fourth-liner. That's not a good sign when the veterans are supposed to set the tone.
The Cougars opened the scoring in the second period on a hard-work goal by Mykitiuk and Austin Daae. The play ended with Daae jamming away at the right side of the net and he managed to stuff the puck under goaltender Calvin Pickard before the whistle blew. The play was reviewed but the goal counted, much to the displeasure of Seattle coach and former NHLer Steve Konawalchuk, who thought his goalie had frozen the puck long enough for there to be a stoppage.
Seattle, however, got an equalizer just 15 seconds later when a long shot by defenceman Brad Deagle pinballed off Prince George defenceman Cody Carlson and snuck behind Owsley.
With just under six minutes left in the middle frame, the T-birds took the lead on a one-timer from the left circle by Luke Lockhart, who was the beneficiary of a cross-ice pass from Colin Jacobs. Owsley made a point-blank save off Burke Gallimore before the period ended to keep the Cougars alive heading to the third.
Considering the significance of the game, the first period was surprisingly free of emotion. In fact, the best hit of the opening 20 minutes was thrown by a Cougar, on a Cougar, when Alex Forsberg and Mykitiuk got crossed up and flattened each other at centre ice.
Despite that mishap, Mykitiuk was the best of the Cats in the period. He had two great chances to score on Pickard, one off a turnover in the Seattle end and the other off the rebound of a Linden Springer shot. The save Pickard made after the turnover was his best of the frame, as he knifed out his right pad and kept the low shot out of his net.
The best opportunity for the T-birds was a shorthanded two-on-one break early in the first period but Owsley was up to the task against shooter Brendan Rouse.
The Thunderbirds outshot the Cougars 25-22.
