The Prince George Cougars leaned a couple things about themselves Thursday night in Langley.
Or more to the point, the Vancouver Giants taught them a lesson or two.
They made it abundantly clear to the Cougars that when you get caught up ice still thinking about offence when the puck is heading the other way there is a price to pay. For the Cougars, it cost them two points in the WHL B.C. Division standings after they lost to the Giants 4-2 in front of 3,383 witnesses at Langley Events Centre.
"The turning point was all the odd-man rushes for us, right from the get-go," said Cougars associate coach Steve O'Rourke, in the post-game broadcast. "Our third man was too low tonight and we just gave up way too many odd-man rushes.
"That team has some good talent up front, guys who can score - (James) Malm, (Ty) Ronning, (Brendan) Semchuk, (Radovan) Bondra, the list goes on, and if you give them multiple chances like we did tonight, they're going to burn you. We just weren't prepared enough to play tonight."
Malm scored twice to lead the way for the Giants.
It was their first road loss in regulation time in 10 games this season and the first time in 10 games against a B.C. Division opponent the Cats have come out at the short end of the stick.
The Giants broke a 2-2 deadlock after two periods with goals from Dawson Holt and Radovan Bondra. Both goals came off rebounds after goalie Nick McBride made the initial saves.
Malm opened the scoring with his fourth of the season, cashing in 3-on-2 chance after a Cougar turnover with 14:26 gone in the first period. The Cougars tied it on a give-and-go play at the 17:53 mark. Jansen Harkins sprung Brad Morrison and he beat Ryan Kubic for his eighth of the season. Harkins and Morrison just returned from playing Monday and Tuesday for Team WHL in the CIBC CHL Canada-Russia Series.
Cougars rookie defenceman Cole Moberg scored his first WHL goal to give the Cats their first lead, 6:16 into the second period. The 16-year-old from North Vancouver let go a wrist shot from the point and it got through a crowd past a screened Kubic. Malm's second of the night came 18:01 into the second period. The goal was initially waived off by referee Mike Langin but video review confirmed it was legitimate goal.
The Cougars were without three key veterans. Defenceman Sam Ruopp served the second of an eight-game suspension for punching Medicine Hat forward Stephen Owre in the Cougars' 6-4 loss to the Medicine Hat Tigers, Nov. 2. Winger Kody McDonald also sat out for the second of a three-game suspension for his slash on Tigers winger Chad Butcher. The Cougars were also missing defenceman Josh Anderson, out with an upper-body injury. Winger Colby McAuley returned to the Cats' lineup after missing two weeks with a separated shoulder.
"I think when you have some top guys like (Ruopp), McDonald and Anderson out of the lineup you've got to work harder, you've got to keep things simple and we didn't shoot the puck enough tonight," said O'Rourke.
"Vancouver came right from the opening shift and really did outwork us for 60 minutes and we just didn't match that same intensity all the way through."
Both goalies were kept busy. The Giants outshot the Cougars 41-39. Kubic picked up the win in the Vancouver nets to improve to 8-9-1, while McBride's record fell to 4-2-1.
The victory improved the Giants' fifth-place record to 9-11-0-0. The Cougars (14-4-2-0) still lead the WHL with 30 points, one ahead of the Regina Pats (13-0-3-0), who have 29 points, having played four fewer games than Prince George. The Pats beat the Moose Jaw Warriors 5-4 in overtime Thursday in Moose Jaw and are the only WHL team that has yet to lose in regulation time.
The Cougars now move on to Kamloops, where they play the Blazers Saturday night. The third-place Blazers (10-9-1-0) host the Prince Albert Raiders Friday at 5 p.m. Heading into that game, Kamloops has a 6-3-1-0 home record. The Cougars defeated the Blazers 4-2 at CN Centre last Friday.
"We'll cut the video up and see what we did right and what we didn't do right," said O'Rourke. "Kamloops has got a get home record, as good as anyone in the league, so we have to be prepared for that game. We'll get into Kamloops early and be rested and ready to go for that Saturday night tilt."
