The Prince George Cougars erupted in the third period to score five unanswered goals to defeat the Tri-City Americans 8-4 Tuesday night at CN Centre.
Five different Cats found the back of the net in the final period, as they clawed back from a 4-3 deficit after the first two periods.
Tuesdays victory snapped a two-game losing streak for Prince George, while Tri-City extended its losing streak to six and fell to 18-19-0-2 and 38 points in the WHLs Western Conference.
The Cougars improve to 20-21-0-0 and 40 points.
Trailing 4-3 going into the third period, Zach Pochiro began the Cougars offensive outburst early in the frame to tie the game at 4-4 when he slipped the puck underneath Tri-City netminder Evan Sarthou.
Kolby McAuley scored what turned into the winner with a wrist shot from the top of the face-off circle.
That forced the Americans to pull Sarthou in favour of netminder Nicholas Saunders.
That didnt stop the bleeding for the Americans, as Sam Ruopp, Jari Erricson and Brad Morrison all tallied for the Cougars. Morrison finished the night with two goals and two assists.
Trailing 2-1, Morrison and Chase Witala gave Prince George a 3-2 lead early in the second period. Playing in his 200th WHL game, Witalas snapshot from outside the circle was his 22nd goal of the season.
The Americans rebounded with a pair of goals in a 35-second span from Lucas Nickles and Beau McCue for a 4-3 lead.
The Americans had a 2-1 lead after the first period on goals from McCue and Taylor Vickerman.
Joseph Carvalho responded for the Cougars when his point shot found the back of the net three seconds into a power play opportunity.
The Cougars outshot the Americans 39-34 and netminder Ty Edmonds picked up his 18th win of the season.
The Western Conference rivals return tonight to CN Centre for another clash at 7 p.m.
