It was doubly bad news for the Prince George Cougars on Friday.
Not only did the Cougars (15-28-0-2) drop their second game on a three-game road trip through Alberta's Western Hockey League's Central Division, falling 5-1 to the Calgary Hitmen (26-17-2-1), but the Cats' Western Conference rivals', the Victoria Royals (15-27-2-3) were 6-4 winners in Prince Albert.
The loss combined with the Royals' win gave Victoria a three-point advantage for the eighth, and final, playoff spot in the west.
Drew Owsley faced 44 shots in the Cougars' net, while the Cats were only able to muster 19 at the Hitmen's Chris Dreidger in front of 9,624 fans at the Scotiabank Saddledome.
Calgary led 2-0 after the first period on goals from Joe Kornelsen and Victor Rask. Jordan Tkatch pulled the Cougars within a goal less than three minutes into the second frame, but a pair of power-play goals by the Hitmen's Alex Gogolev and Rask's second, sealed the fate for Prince George.
Calder Brooks closed out the scoring for Calgary in the third period.
The Cougars were 0-for-7 with the man advantage.
Prince George opened their Alberta road trip Wednesday when they lost 5-0 to the Edmonton Oil Kings. The Cats wrap up the trip tonight when they visit Red Deer for their first game against the Rebels (19-20-1-4). Game time is 6:30 p.m. (PST).
