It was a gritty effort, certainly not pretty, but it got the job done.
The Vancouver Giants have been slayed and the Prince George Cougars wielded the swords.
Not only did their 2-1 victory Wednesday night complete a two-game Western Hockey League sweep but it eliminated the Giants from playoff contention.
Brad Morrison and Jansen Harkins stoked the offence and Nick McBride was solid when he needed to be, making 24 saves, much to the delight of a partisan CN Centre crowd of 2,442.
Their second-straight win kept the Cougars (35-26-3-1) five points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers in the race for third place in the B.C. Division. The fifth-place Giants (23-35-5-3) remained last in the Western Conference and with just six games left there's no way they can catch Tri-City for the final wild-card spot.
After a tentative start for both teams in the first period, the Cougars poured it on in the second stanza, outshooting the Giants 20-6. Vancouver goalie Jake Morrissey has had his struggles this season, with just one win in nine games heading into the action Wednesday, but looked extremely sharp holding the Cougars scoreless on 27 shots past the midway mark.
But on the Cats' 28th shot, 13:47 into the second period, there wasn't much he could do to prevent Morrison from opening the scoring. Morrison, who had two assists in Tuesday's 5-4 shootout win over the Giants, had nothing but net showing when he took a feed at the side of the net from linemate Colby McAuley and buried for his 25th of the season.
The Cougars continued their pattern of alternating goalies each game and McBride drew the start. He didn't get much work until late in the second period when Radovan Bondra got in behind Sam Ruopp with the puck on his stick. But the 18-year-old from Maple Ridge was ready for it and kicked out his pad just in the nick of time. In the final minute of the period with Vancouver on the power play, Giants captain Thomas Foster came within a goalpost of tying it.
The Cougars gave themselves some breathing room eight minutes into the third period, cashing in a 4-on-3 power play chance. Chase Witala set up Harkins just off the goal line and collected his 21st goal with a sharp-angle blast.
The Giants halved the lead on a power play of their own. Bondra took a pass in the face-off circle and McBride was slow to react and was unable to get across the crease in time to take away the angle on Bondra.
The Giants had their chances on a late power play but McBride kept his team in front with three quality saves.
With his assist on Harkins's goal, Witala continued his assault of the Prince George record book. Already having established a new franchise record for most goals in a career, he's now within four points of tying Troy Bourque's all-time points mark of 236.
The 20-year-old Witala was the best player on the ice Tuesday night. He scored twice and assisted on another goal in regulation time, almost ended it in overtime when he undressed the Giants defence on the opening rush and came up with the only goal in six shootout rounds - triggering the Cougars' celebration with a magnificent deke on Giants goalie Ryan Kubic.
LOOSE PUCKS: Now down to their last three home games of the season, with four still to play on the road, the Cougars host the Spokane Chiefs Friday and Saturday. The Blazers shut out the Chiefs 5-0 Wednesday in Kamloops. Connor Ingram made 27 saves for his third shutout... If there's a rush of hockey fans lining up at the CN Centre concession stands to trade their Vancouver Canucks jerseys for hot dogs, blame Rick Mercer. With most Canadian-based NHL teams in danger of missing the playoffs, the CBC TV comedian produced a clip on the Rick Mercer Report urging disgruntled fans of those teams to climb on board on the Cougars' bandwagon. As Mercer pointed out, "Prince George is conveniently located equidistant" from three NHL cities - Calgary, Edmonton and Vancouver - for fans looking to feed their hockey playoff fix. The clip was posted on the Facebook page of Cougars business vice-president Andy Beesley.
Wednesday WHL summary
Giants 1 at Cougars 2
First Period
No scoring.
Penalties - Ruopp PG (tripping) 12:04, Brumm Van (interference) 12:46.
Second Period
1. Prince George, Morrison 25 (McAuley, Ruopp) 10:47
Penalties - Holt Van (tripping) 6:59, Thomas Van (slashing) 15:12, O'Brien PG (hooking) 18:30
Third Period
2. Prince George, Harkins 21 (Witala, Morrison) 8:05 (pp)
3. Vancouver, Bondra 13 (Menell, Foster) 11:30 (pp)
Penalties - Osipov Van (roughing), McAuley PG (roughing) 6:28, Bondra Van high-sticking) 7:40, Morrison PG (hooking) 10:04, Dosanjh PG (interference) 16:08.
Shots on goal by
Vancouver 9 6 10 -25
Prince George 11 20 8 --39
Goal - Morrissey (L,1-5-0-0); Prince George, McBride (W,12-9-1-1).
Power plays - Van: 0-4; PG: 1-4.
Referees --- Ryan Benbow, Chris Schlenker; Linesmen - Ron Dietterle, Tom Henetiuk.
Attendance - 2,442.
Scratches - Vancouver: RW Chase Lang (upper body, indefinite), D Tyler Brown (unspecified injury, indefinite), F Tyler Benson (lower body, out for season), F Brendan Semchuk (lower body, indefinite), F Johnny Wesley (upper body, indefinite), D Ryely McKinstry (upper body, indefinite), D Matt Barbaris (upper body, 2-3 weeks); Prince George: D Josh Anderson (back, out for season); D Joel Lakusta (healthy), RW Josh Curtis (healthy), RW Adam Kadlec (healthy), C Justin Almeida (healthy), D Max Martin (healthy).
