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Fire extinguished: Prince George Cougars beat Blazers for first time in seven meetings

Rookie Keaton Dowhaniuk notches four points in 5-1 win over Kamloops

Seventh time's the charm!

Since Jan. 25, 2020, the Prince George Cougars were unable to solve the Kamloops Blazers through six consecutive games, but the tide (finally and drastically) turned in their favour last night (April 28).

Offense seemed to click in every way possible for the Cats en route to a 5-1 dousing of the hub hosts, their first victory in five meetings with Kamloops in the 2020-21 altered season.

While breaking the Blazers' five-game winning streak, Prince George has now won two in a row two days after they also held the Victoria Royals to a single marker in the 4-1 triumph.

Keaton Dowhaniuk led the Wednesday scoresheet as the rookie recorded a goal and three assists for his first career WHL multi-point outing, to which he was named the league's second star.

Goaltender Taylor Gauthier turned away 37 of 38 pucks in the 60-minute affair, nabbing his fourth win of the year in 10 starts.

On just their fourth shot of the contest, Tyson Upper gave the Cougars a 1-0 lead halfway through the first frame unassisted.

The 19-year-old intercepted a pass in his own zone, raced up the middle while bouncing the puck off the right boards to get around a defender and beat Dylan Ernst blocker side for his second goal of the season.

After intermission, Prince George continued to press on and got to a 3-0 advantage on the Blazers through 40 minutes of play.

Ethan Samson potted his first of 2020-21 nine minutes into the second period with helpers from Dowhaniuk and Fischer O'Brien, serving as the eventual game-winner.

Dowhaniuk's highlight-of-the-night goal came shorthanded with 16 seconds remaining in Jonny Hooker's charging penalty.

Upper stole the puck from the Cougars' blue line, passed the puck to the defenceman near the Blazers net and went backhand to forehand to roof the puck on Ernst's left.

Kamloops broke its goose egg 6:35 into the third while on a man-advantage 47 seconds after captain Jack Sander took a penalty for closing his hand on a loose puck.

However, 17 seconds later, Connor Bowie regained the three-goal cushion with his team-tying sixth of the campaign; Dowhaniuk assisted the Fort St. John product's play.

Finally, 27 seconds into their second of two power-plays of the evening, rookie Koehn Ziemmer's scored his fourth goal in the double-bubble to ultimately seal the 5-1 win with apples to Dowhaniuk and Samson.

Cats' special teams finished 50 per cent (1/2), while penalty killers went 75 per cent (3/4).

The victory improves Prince George's record to 6-7-1-1 with seven tilts left in the 22-game schedule, and are currently 5-5 in their last 10 games

The Cougars' next contest is set for Friday (April 30), 7 p.m. in Kamloops when they host Victoria.

Against the Royals in the B.C. Division hubs, Prince George leads the series at 3-0-1-0.