Tyler Mrkonjic was one of the most unlikely Prince George Cougars to get the fur flying on Teddy Bear Toss Night.
The 17-year-old rookie from St. Albert, Alta., had but one goal in 29 games and that came in the Cougars home-opener on Sept. 27. But on Saturday he made rippling the net in a WHL rink look like an old habit and his goal 5:36 into the game offered early pressure relief for the Cougars, who hung on to defeat the Tri-City Americans 5-2.
[Tanner Lishchynsky] made a great pass and I was lucky to get it five-hole," said Mrkonjic. "It was a great win for us. We're all excited to get on a winning streak and keep that going in our next couple games going into Christmas."
Mrkonjic's coach, Mark Holick, wasn't surprised to see Mrkonjic score. He's been giving him lots of icetime on the penalty kill and in late-game situations and it paid off Saturday.
"He's been very consistent and to get the goal he got gets the gorilla off his back," said Holick.
"For a 17-year-old to play the minutes he's getting, he's a good d-zone guy, he's blocking shots, killing penalties and he's probably one of our smartest guys. The offence will come for him because he's so good positionally and with his habits."
Having beaten the Cougars 4-3 in overtime Friday night, the Americans stayed close in the rematch almost until the end, and the nailbiter finish built to a feverish pitch with about three minutes left. With his team down 3-2, Americans goalie Eric Comrie got his left pad in the way of a breakaway shot from Cougars captain Troy Bourke, back in uniform after serving a three-game suspension. Seconds later on the ensuing rush, Tri-City speedster Lucas Nickles blew past Cats defenceman Marc McNulty and was all alone when he let go a shot that forced Ty Edmonds to shift his weight just enough to get his chest in the way of the shot.
Two empty-netters sealed it. The Americans pulled Comrie and that afforded Klarc Wilson a clear shot at the empty net. Parker Wotherspoon threw his stick to deflect the shot but it was ruled a goal. Alex Forsberg capped the scoring.
It was a rare victory for the struggling Cougars (12-16-2-3), who have won just two of their last 10 at home, and it moved them to within eight points of the Americans (17-13-1-2), who host the Cougars Friday in Kennewick, Wash.
Hardworking centre Jordan Tkatch did a bit of everything to further the Cougar cause. He killed penalties, kept his feet moving to draw a penalty, created scoring chances for his veteran linemates Todd Fiddler and Klarc Wilson and was rewarded with his sixth goal of the season. Bourke, who picked up two assists in his return, spotted Tkatch breaking for the side of the net and fired a shot-pass through the crease that hit off the blade of Tkatch's stick blade to make it 2-0 late in the opening period.
"The bounces are finally going my way and my linemates are helping me a lot, they're always there and I know where they are so that chemistry is helping a lot," said Tkatch. "[Friday] was a heartbreaker and we came back and got the point but not the win. Tonight we knew it was the teddy bear game and we wanted to get it fast and get it out of the way and that's what we did."
Fiddler collected his 12th of the season as a result of some fine handiwork from the much-maligned Cougar power play, which was sputtering at a league-worst 13.4 per cent success rate. But on this night, facing an injury-riddled Americans squad that was just as banged up as the Cougars are, the Cats were serious threats to score on four of their five power-play chances.
'Tonight was our most complete game in a while and out guys are deserving of the two points," said Holick. "We bent a little bit and they made a push but the turning point was the big save on the breakaway that would have tied it up. [Edmonds] made some big saves for us and on the other end you can look at Comrie for them. He stopped Fiddler on a breakaway and Witala on a partial break. If we score a couple goals there it would have been academic."
The Americans got on the scoreboard 14:08 into the second period when Cats defenceman Joseph Carvalho fell at the blueline, sending Philip Tot in on a clear break he finished off with a high backhander. That inspired major pushback from the visitors and they carried that momentum into the third period. After some sustained pressure in the Cougars' end, Brandon Carlo's point shot made it a one-goal game.
Comrie made 33 saves as the Americans were outshot 38-31. In front of a larger-than-normal crowd of 2,498, the Cougars played well enough in the first two periods to make it a blowout.
"We left it out there in the end but we just didn't play well enough the first 40 minutes," said Americans head coach Jim Hiller. "Sometimes you'd like a little but more but you have to understand we have four rookie defencemen playing a lot of minutes. Eric gives us a chance every night and that's the mark of great goaltender when you get that consistency. Bringing Bourke back to the [Cougars] lineup made a big difference and Fiddler was good tonight."
Saturday summary
Americans 2 at Cougars 5
First Period
1. Prince George, Mrkonjic 2 (Lishchynsky, Harkins) 5:36
2. Prince George, Tkatch 6 (Bourke, Bobos) 19:38
Penalties -- Wilson PG (kneeing) 0:25, Fiddler PG (tripping) 6:24, Purtill TC (slashing) 9:20, Macklin PG (checking from behind) 16:25.
Second Period
3. Prince George, Fiddler 12 (McNulty, Bourke) 10:28 (pp)
4. Tri-City, Tot 9 (Wotherspoon) 14:08
Penalties -- McAndrews TC (kneeing) 9:00, Wotherspoon TC (holding) 9:46, Ruopp PG (delay of game) 15:11, T.Comrie TC (hooking) 15:16, Guttierrez TC (roughing), Macklin PG (roughing) 18:06.
Third Period
5. Tri-City, Carlo 1 (Nickles, Messier) 10:59
6. Prince George, Wilson 8, 18:33 (en)
7. Tri-City, Forsberg 6 (Bourke) 19:03 (en)
Penalties -- Purtill TC (slashing) 3:21, Astles TC (misconduct) 19:03.
Shots on goal by
Tri-City111010--31
Prince George11207--39
Goal -- Tri-City, Comrie (L,14-11-1-2); Prince George, Edmonds (W,9-8-1-2).
Power plays (goals-chances) -- TC: 0-4; PG: 1-5.
Referees -- Referees: Brett Montsion, Nick Swaine; Linesmen: Ryan Gibbons, Korey Martens.
Attendance -- 2,498.
