That daylight showing at the end the tunnel is a playoff spot for the Prince George Cougars and after beating the Kamloops Blazers 4-2 Wednesday night they're now just one step away from it.
They need just one more point in their two remaining games against Kamloops and the Cougars will end their three-year playoff drought.
But it became a matter of survival in the late stages Wednesday as they survived a determined comeback attempt by the Blazers and finally got some relief when Chase Witala took Zach Pochiro's pass on a 3-on-1 break and dumped it into the empty Kamloops net to ice it away.
Trailing 3-0, the Blazers scored twice in the third period to make a game of it. Logan McVeigh won a face-off in the Cougars' end and got the puck back to former Cougar defenceman Marc McNulty, whose wrist shot from the point deflected in off McVeigh.
The Blazers got to within a goal 8:36 into the third with the teams playing 4-on-4. Ryan Rehill blasted in a slapshot from the high slot, set up by Brady Gaudet and Cole Ully, who picked up his 90th point of the season, fifth-best in the WHL.
But that's as close as it got, thanks to some late-game heroics from Cougar goalie Ty Edmonds.
The win improved the Cougars' season record to 30-35-2-3. Now four points behind Prince George, the Blazers (27-36-4-3) will have to beat the Cougars twice to have a shot at qualifying for the playoffs.
The same teams meet Friday night at CN Centre, then close out the regular season Saturday in Kamloops.
Now four points in front of the Blazers, the Cougars still need one more point in their next two games to clinch third place in the B.C. Division. If the teams are tied for third following Saturday's game, a tiebreaking game would be needed next Tuesday in Prince George.
The Cougars got the quick start they were hoping for against their closest WHL rivals, jumping ahead 2-0 before the game was 3 1/2 minutes old. Pochiro went to the side of the post as Witala took the puck in behind the net and Pochiro took the pass on his backhand and lifted a sharp-angle shot in behind Connor Ingram with just 1:37 gone.
Then at 3:28, Colby McAuley rapped in his fourth of the season, one-timing a pass into the slot from Tyler Mrkonjic. McAuley and his linemates Mrkonjic and Kody McDonald were the Cougars' most energetic forward trio and came close to scoring on a more than a few occasions. McAuley was picked as the game's second star.
Brad Morrison added to the total 15 minutes onto the second period, sneaking in behind enemy lines to take the rebound of Kirk Bear's point shot. Morrison went wide around Ingram and dumped the puck into the open side. It was 23rd goal of the season for the 18-year-old Morrison, a draft-eligible sophomore, who now ranks second on the Cougars in that department.
Edmonds didn't get tested much through two periods, taking away a couple of quality chances from Deven Sideroff and one late in the second period from Quinn Benjafield. But the Blazers made him work for it in the final stanza. Kamloops outworked the Cougars through much of the third period and that created more than a few anxious moments for the partisan crowd of 2,744.
LOOSE PUCKS: Kamloops remained ninth in the wild card chase, tied in points with the Tri-City Americans, but the Americans have the edge based on the fact they have two more wins than Kamloops. The Americans also have a game in hand... Cougars equipment manager Ramadeep (Chico) Dhanjal recorded his 500th WHL game behind the bench last weekend in Kennewick, Wash... The Cougars scratched G Patrick Gora, D Josh Anderson, D Shane Collins, RW Jordan Ross, LW Aaron Macklin and C Haydn Hopkins. The Blazers sat out D Travis Verveda, D Cameron Reagan, LW Matthew Campese, and LW Jermaine Loewen.
