It was a gutsy effort but the Prince George Cougars came up short in the first half of a weekend doubleheader Friday, falling 3-2 to the Kelowna Rockets.
The loss extended the Cougars' (6-14-0-2) losing streak to three games as their WHL Western Conference rivals improved to 7-11-2-1 this season. It was former Cariboo Cougar Brett Bulmer's first visit to CN Centre since returning to the Rockets from the NHL's Minnesota Wild and many of the 1,875 fans at the game cheered every time he touched the puck.
Greg Fraser pulled the Cougars to within a goal when he converted a Charles Inglis pass into his sixth goal of the season 46 seconds into the final period.
But it was as close as the Cougars would get, unable to capitalize on their six power plays - four of which were in the final period.
The lack of power with the man advantage stopped the Cougars' streak of scoring a power-play goal at four games. It was likely one of the best games of the season by Inglis who had a racked up his fifth goal and an assist.
The Rockets had a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes on goals by Carter Rigby, Cody Chickie and a power-play goal from defenceman Madison Bowie. Rigby gave the visitors a 1-0 advantage early in the period when he poked a rebound past Cougars' goalie Drew Owsley. Inglis tied the game at 1-1 midway through the frame, finishing off a nice three-way passing play with Cody Carlson and Daniel Gibb.
But two late goals put the Rockets back on top.
Prince George was caught on a line change when Bulmer fed a perfect pass to Chickie, who had no trouble redirecting it past Owsley for a 2-1 lead. The assist was the 98th point of Bulmer's NHL career. The Rockets went up 3-1 on Bowie's blast from the point.
The Cougars outshot the Rockets 9-7 in the second period with eight of the shots for the home side coming in the final five minutes when both teams showed more intensity then they did in the first 15.
CAT SCRATCHES: After struggling to live up to the Cougars' expectations this season centre Tayler Thompson was released by the team this week. In 16 games this season the 18 year old had two goals and four points. Thompson's release leaves 24 players on the roster, including two goalies, 13 forwards and nine defencemen. Cougars' captain Jesse Forsberg missed the game with an upper-body injury, while Michael Mychreest and Linden Springer and forward Brock Hirsche also sat out. The Cougars and Rockets meet again tonight at 7 p.m. at CN Centre.
