The Prince George Cougars probably deserved a better outcome than what they were handed in a 4-3 road loss Saturday to the Kamloops Blazers.
They fired 41 shots at goalie Dylan Ferguson and failed to register a point, losing their third straight WHL game to one of the hottest teams in the league.
Quinn Benjafield caught the Cougars by surprise and scored the winner, 13:47 into the third period.
“That was a bad line change,” said Cougars associate coach Steve O’Rourke, in the post-game broadcast.
“You can’t have three guys changing at the same time. We got close to getting it in (the Kamloops zone), it was at the blueline but it’s not deep enough. You’ve got guys coming on and just couldn’t handle that rush.
“I’m not sure if it was tipped or not, it’s a tough one to swallow because we played well enough.”
The Blazers got to Cougars goalie Tavin Grant early. Luc Smith scored on a Kamloops power play 7:30 into the game and Garrett Pilon made it a 2-0 count, scoring while shorthanded at 9:19 of the first. The 20-year-old Pilon has been on a hot streak lately, collecting seven goals and 15 assists in his past 10 games.
The Cougars came on strong in the second period, outshooting the Blazers 20-9, and outscoring them 2-0. Josh Curtis got the Cougars on the board at 4:57, lifting a backhander over Ferguson to cash in on a 3-on-1 rush, set up by a pass from Jared Bethune.
Dennis Cholowski deflected Jackson Leppard’s shot from the right wing boards past Ferguson to tie the game at 7:09.
“The first 10 minutes was a little sleepy and after that we took over the game,” said O’Rourke. “We generated some pretty good opportunities and Ferguson put up a pretty good wall in the second period against us, even if we got two, and in the third (period) we had some good looks and just couldn’t finish off.
“We can’t be satisfied by being close, we have to get back and compete and our practices have to get harder. We have to find a way to push and pile up some points and keep climbing in the standings.”
Brodi Stuart added an empty-netter with 36 seconds left but the Cougars weren’t quite done and rookie Chance Adrian collected the first WHL goal of his career with seven seconds left, pouncing on the rebound of Liam Ryan’s shot.
Shots were 41-30 in favour of the Cougars.
The win moved Kamloops (11-13-0-0) out of the Western Conference basement ahead of the Cougars (9-12-2-2). Each team has 22 points. The Blazers started the season 0-9-0-0 and have won 11 of their past 15 games since they broke out of their slump with a 4-1 win over the Cougars Oct. 13 at CN Centre. Saturday’s win was the Blazers’ fourth straight and it gave Kamloops and 3-2 edge in the season series with five games still to come against the Cougars.
The Cats are back on the ice Wednesday in Kelowna against the Rockets.
