As Jared Bethune proved so painfully to the Tri-City Americans, there doesn't have to be much net showing for him to make it ripple with the puck.
Americans goalie Rylan Parenteau offered him just sliver in the top corner over his left shoulder and Bethune found it late in the first period Wednesday, filing away his second goal in two games in what turned out a 5-3 win for his Prince George Cougars.
Bethune also potted a power-play goal in the first period Tuesday, the gamewinner in what ended up a 4-1 victory over the visiting Americans.
Two goals in two games? So much for Bethune's nine-game scoring slump.
The 19-year-old centre from Fort Frances, Ont., has a reputation as a streaky scorer and he started the season on an extremely hot streak which shot him to the top of the scoring charts. He collected four assists in Victoria Sept. 24, notched his first WHL hat trick Sept. 27 in Vancouver and picked up a goal and an assist the following night in Kelowna.
That added up to 10 points in four games before the season was one week old. Coming off a 72-game 2015-16 season in which he totaled 16 goals and 37 points, Bethune cooled off, but the Cougars certainly haven't. They've been winning three times as often as they've been losing and now with a record of 24-8-2-0 they're back in first place overall in the WHL, the first team to reach the 50-point plateau.
"I was playing a lot and having a lot of chances and things weren't bouncing my way and I was a little frustrated but my coaches were good and my teammates were good with staying positive," said Bethune, who has 11 goals and 25 points in 34 games, fifth among the Cougars leading point-producers.
"The last couple games I had a couple bounces and it felt great. For us, it doesn't matter if it's the first line, the second line, the third line or the fourth line, we always have different lines producing. That's the first time I've seen that and it's just awesome."
Bethune also put up an assist late in the second period Wednesday, threading a long pass through the Tri-City defence to a waiting Cougars defenceman Brendan Guhle, who tucked it along the ice through the legs of goalie Parenteau for the winning goal.
"His speed is unfathomable," said Bethune, referring to Guhle. "It just shows why he was playing in the NHL this year, he's a one-of-a-kind player and we're lucky to have him and on top of that he's just a great guy off the ice. He really fits in and he makes us look good when you make a blind pass and he's sitting there, back door."
Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk put Bethune out on line with right winger Jesse Gabrielle and left winger Colby McAuley and they generated more than their share of great chances in both games. It was only a matter of time before Bethune broke out of his slump.
"Everybody said he's a streaky player and when he got one (Tuesday) night I said well hopefully that ball keeps rolling and they played another good game (Wednesday) night," said Matvichuk.
"We were able to roll four lines and play six defencemen and with our energy and the way we conduct ourselves and the way work out to be in good shape, near the end of these games we take over."
All of the Cougars' four Cariboo Cougar midget graduates - forwards Brad Morrison, Brogan O'Brien, Josh Maser and Ethan O'Rourke - scored in the Tri-City series.
"I'll bet Spraguer is happy," said Matvichuk, referring to Cariboo Cougars head coach and general manager Trevor Sprague. "We talked about the balance of our team, I think we have only one guy in the top-50 in scoring. Good things happen when you shoot the puck. I think Brad Morrison two weeks ago would have tried to take one more stick-handle or take an extra step instead of just getting into the slot and shooting, and it went in. The same with Brogan O'Brien; he just shot the puck and it went in."
Morrison scored his 14th goal Tuesday and now has 32 points, tied for second on the team with Gabrielle. O'Brien connected in the second period Wednesday, his first goal since Oct. 25. Maser collected his first career WHL goal in his Cougar debut Saturday against Seattle and followed up with his second of the season on Tuesday. O'Rourke scored Tuesday in his 17th game with the Cougars since leaving the major midget ranks - a huge load off his back.
"I was riding high off after getting that first goal, I felt really good just trying to keep the pace going and that's the plan for the rest of the season here," said O'Rourke, who played on a line with O'Brien and Yan Khomenko. "It was working really well the last two games here, we were getting lots of chances, getting to the net and it certainly turned out in our favour for a couple of those."
As good as it felt to score, O'Rourke says nothing beats winning.
"Tri-City has obviously moved up the ranks this season and it's great to get four huge points out of a team like that," he said. "They brought their best in (Wednesday's) game and we showed we could match that and even do better than that, and it was great to see."
Heading into their games tonight in Seattle (7:35 p.m. start, 94.3 FM The Goat) and Saturday in Spokane, the Cougars continue to smother opposing teams' power plays. The Americans came into Prince George with the league's best power-play (30.3 per cent) having scored 44 of their total 121 goal total at that point (36 per cent) with the man advantage. But they could not solve the Cougars' penalty-killers, who killed off all eight chances they gave the Americans in the two-game series. The Cats have had the best penalty-killing statistics all season. Through 34 games they've given up just 19 power-play goals in 154 chances, a 87.7 per cent success rate. They also scored three power play goals in 14 chances against Tri-City.
"We thought if we could be aggressive in the right areas it would help us kill the penalties and fortunately we were pretty disciplined in both games and came out on top," said Matvichuk.
The Cougars split the series with Seattle Thunderbirds last weekend at CN Centre and know what to expect. The T-birds won't have the services of forwards Mathew Barzal or Alexander True. Barzal is playing for Canada at the world junior team while True has made the Danish team.
"Seattle's going to be a tough game and we have to gear up to get ready to play that game," sad Matvichuk. "They're a heavy team, a big team that is physical, but if we roll four lines and six defencemen we'll be OK.
"Spokane has some younger guys with skill. They have (Hudson) Elynuik, (Jaret) Anderson-Dolan, (Kailer) Yamamoto and Keanu (Yamamoto). They have younger team but they compete hard and it will be two tough games on the road."
