It's not how you start that matters, it's how you finish.
The Spokane Chiefs finished with ferocity Friday night at CN Centre to push the Prince George Cougars to the brink of extinction.
The Chiefs scored four goals in the third period to beat the Cougars 4-2, the cruelest of outcomes for a Cougar team that dominated the first two periods.
Keanu Yamamoto nailed down the winner 14:59 into the third when he got to the rebound after his initial shot rang the goalpost. Michael Aviani put the game away with an empty-netter with a minute left.
The loss left the Cougars (26-35-3-5) four points back of the Tri-City Americans. Now down to their last three games, the Cougars must win all three to have a chance of making the playoffs. They did get some help Friday from the Everett Silvertips, who beat the slumping Americans 4-2 in Kennewick, Wash.
Tri-City, which holds down the eighth and final playoff spot in the WHL Western Conference, still has five games left. Even if the Cougars win all three remaining games, including a rematch with the Chiefs tonight, the Americans would need to gain only three points in their next five games to clinch that spot.
"We shot ourselves in the foot," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. "On the gamewinner we had guys flying all over the place stickchecking and those were our best guys. For me, those are mistakes those guys can't make. I didn't think we were hard on anybody on that play. If you don't want to pay the price and backcheck in your own end, you're going to give up goals."
For two periods, the Cougars looked like were fighting for their lives. They won the loose-puck battles, kept the play in the offensive end and looked to be on their way to victory.
Aided by a couple of power plays, the Cougars dominated puck possession in the first period and outchanced the Chiefs 6-2 but had nothing on the board to show for their efforts. Brett Roulston set a physical tone, flattening Jeremy McIntosh and Colton Bobyk with clean checks and the Cougars gained some momentum from a pair of early power-play chances. Chiefs goalie Hughson looked sharp, coming up with a chest blocker stop to deny Zach Pochiro in the deep slot. The Chiefs came close late in the period when Jason Fram's low point shot deflected off the goalpost.
As good as they were in the first period, the Cougars owned the second period and were rewarded with a 2-0 lead. Troy Bourke jammed in a loose puck 3:03 into the period while standing near the post after Alex Forsberg and Chase Witala both had shots blocked by Hughson. The assist for Witala was his first point in his first game action since he hurt his back Dec. 27. He missed 30 games.
Former Chief Todd Fiddler then took his team on his shoulders for a ride down the right wing that resulted in his 46th goal of the season at the 9:19 mark. Fiddler took a pass at centre and turned on the jets to burn Chiefs defenceman Reid Gow to the outside, cut into the middle and shoveled a backhander in over the stick of Hughson.
Jansen Harkins just missed a chance to make it 3-0 when he whiffed at the puck while staring at a wide-open net on a rebound. That, and many other missed opportunities, would come back to haunt the Cougars.
The Chiefs cut the lead in half with a power-play goal from Adam Helewka 3:32 into the third and tied it up 1:16 later. WHL scoring leader Mitch Holmberg spotted linemate Aviani unguarded in front of the Cougars net and slid a perfect pass to him through the crease. It was Holmberg's 108th point of the season after going three games without a point.
The Chiefs (37-24-3-3) kept coming and didn't get a lot of chances around goalie Ty Edmonds, but Yamamoto made the most of his. The win kept them fifth in the West, one point ahead of the Silvertips.
"This one stings," said Holick. "We were in real good position to get those two points and now we're running out of real estate."
LOOSE PUCKS: Bourke won the team's Hubbell Designer Goldsmiths player-of-the-month award for February. The 19-year-old Bourke, a fourth-year Cougar, is four points shy of the Cougars' all-time record for career points Eric Hunter (2002-07) set the mark with 233 points. Bourke has 81 goals and 231 points in a WHL career that began in 2009. This season, Bourke has 27 goals and 53 assists for 80 points, all season highs.... Fiddler's goal gave him at least one point in his last 19 games, the longest active point streak in the WHL.
