In a must-win situation, the Prince George Cougars responded with one of their best performances of the season.
The Cougars scored the first three goals of the game and held off the Victoria Royals for a 3-1 victory Saturday night in Victoria. The Cats are trying to catch the Royals for the final playoff spot in the WHL's Western Conference and, with the win, pulled back to within two points of Victoria. The Royals won the first game of a doubleheader, 4-2 on Friday.
The 10th-place Cougars bumped their record to 19-36-0-2 and have two games in hand on the eighth-place Royals (18-35-2-4). The Cats will use up those two games when they skate in Portland against the Winterhawks this afternoon and Tuesday night.
Next weekend, the Cougars and Royals will do battle again, this time at CN Centre. The Friday and Saturday games will be their final head-to-head encounters of the season and could factor significantly in their playoff fates.
In Saturday's game, Dan Gibb, Caleb Belter and Greg Fraser all beat Victoria goalie Keith Hamilton for first-period goals.
Gibb's marker, his first of the season, came on a shot from the right point while Belter's was a power-play tally from the high slot. Fraser, meanwhile, connected while the Cats were shorthanded. On the play, he stole the puck from Victoria's Jordan Fransoo at the Prince George blueline and, once up ice, fired the puck past Hamilton.
Fraser's goal, on the 10th Prince George shot, resulted in Hamilton getting the hook. He was replaced between the Victoria pipes by P.G. product Jared Rathjen, who stopped 17 shots the rest of the way.
Before the first period was done, Hayden Rintoul scored on the same Victoria power play. Despite a five-on-three man-advantage for the Cougars in the second period and a late power-play for the Royals in the third, the teams went scoreless the rest of the way.
The Royals outshot the Cougars 29-27. Both teams went 1-for-5 on the power play.
