The Prince George Cougars had appeared to be well-rested to begin its Western Hockey League (WHL) East Division swing.
On Wednesday night (Jan. 8) in the Saskatchewan capital, the Cats led by two goals after the opening frame, but the Regina Pats came rolling back in the final 40 minutes and prevailed 5-4 in a shootout.
Prince George never surrendered the lead to the Pats until the end of the skills contest as goaltender Taylor Gauthier tallied a 41-save performance.
That’s the 18-year-old’s sixth 40-plus save night in 30 starts this year.
Cougars’ Filip Koffer scored the game’s first two markers within a two-minute span, including one a power-play, for his first career multi-goal game on North American ice.
The Czech Republic import ultimately led the scoresheet with three points, the second time this season he’s reached that plateau, by adding an assist on his team’s fourth goal.
After the Pats cut the deficit to one with 5:45 remaining in the first period, Brendan Boyle potted a rebound from the top of the crease to make it a 3-1 advantage.
Davin Griffin, a Regina product, assisted on Boyle’s second of the year in front of friends and family, which was also his first career WHL point.
In the middle period, the home side squared up the tilt at 3-3 by lighting a pair of lamps in 50 seconds.
Connor Bowie restored the one-goal lead nabbing his eighth of the year from Koffer and Mitch Kohner; he and Jack Sander each had two assists last night.
The final frame stayed the same at 4-3 until Regina tied it up again with 3:12 left in regulation.
Overtime solved nothing, so a shootout was needed to decide the second point and the Pats went 2-1 for the 5-4 final and hand the Cougars their fourth extra set loss of the year.
Prince George’s record now stands at 10-22-2-4 and are 4-3-1-2 in their last 10 tilts.
The setback marks the 18th time the Cougars have been involved in a one-goal game.
The extended road-trip continues Friday in Prince Albert (Jan. 10), the reigning WHL champions, and then Saturday (Jan. 11) in Saskatoon against Quesnel’s Mitch Love, who won gold with Canada’s world junior team as an assistant coach.
