The bad news from a Prince George Cougars' perspective was the Portland Winterhawks' road show continued to give the Cougars nightmares on the ice.
The good news for the Cats is the outcome Wednesday, a 6-4 loss, was a marked improvement over the disastrous effort they turned in when the same teams met on the same ice Monday.
The bottom line is the 'Hawks (40-12-2-3) are a first-place team that finds ways to win, while the Cougars (24-28-2-5) are still on the outside looking in at a WHL playoff spot.
The Cougars had every reason to feel deflated when, with 6:23 gone in the third period, Keegan Iverson wristed a high shot into the Cougar cage, his second of the game to give Portland a 5-3 lead. Leave it to the Cougars' captain to try to right the ship, and it didn't take long. Troy Bourke, the designated leader jumped on a loose puck and took it deep into the slot, finding the net with a backhand-forehand deke
Down 5-4, Todd Fiddler had the equalizer on his stick staring at the Portland night from point-blank range but was left shaking his head when Portland goalie Corbin Boes shot out his trapper to take away a sure goal nine minutes into the third. That was a crusher for the Cougars. The Hawks restored the two-goal lead four minutes later. Hawks captain Taylor Leier was set up near the post facing a gaping net. Leier's shot caught the shaft of Ty Edmonds' stick but it wasn't enough to stop it.
Shots were 35-24 for Portland. The Cougars went 0-for-5 on the power play, and limited the 'Hawks to one goal on three chances.
The Cougars got pasted by Portland 8-4 in the first game of the series Monday and it didn't look good when they fell behind just 2:05 into the rematch. Oliver Bjorgstrand took a Petan pass from behind the net and snapped it in past Edmonds for his 40th of the season.
Much to the delight of the CN Centre crowd of 1,264, the Cats came back. Two quick goals 39 second apart late in the period from Brad Morrison and Marc McNulty put them ahead for the first time since the U.S. Division leaders rolled into town.
The Cougars didn't show up for the second period and neither did their coaching staff. Head coach Mark Holick and assistant Jason Becker were my nowhere to be found when Petan stripped the puck away from Cougars winger Klarc Wilson and tied the game 2-2 while shorthanded, a wrist shot that fooled Edmonds. It was the third shorthanded goal allowed by the Cougars in the past two days against Portland.
"When you make mistakes against teams like this, they make you pay for them," said Holick.
"A needless pass, cross-ice going the wrong way on the power play ends up as a breakaway goal. When you make low-percentage pays, good times find ways to make good on it and they did that six times tonight."
It went from bad to worse for the Cougars when Garrett Haar scored the go-ahead goal from the face-off dot 2:30 into the second. Keegan Iverson made it 4-2 when he tipped in Alex Schoenborn's point shot at 11:23. That came just after Fiddler went coast to coast and had his shot stopped by 'Hawks goalie Corbin Boes. But the Cougars finished the period on a high when captain Troy Bourke pounced on a fat rebound when Burke had trouble handling Tate Olson's soft wrister from the point.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Tri-City Americans lost 3-2 in overtime to the Royals Wednesday in Victoria to move five points up on the Cougars... The Cougars started with just 10 forwards dressed. Winger Brett Roulston sat out with a leg injury sustained in Monday's game. Also missing were F Chase Witala (back), F Alex Forsberg (concussion), F Jari Erricson (concussion), D Peter Kosterman (broken jaw), and G Brett Zarowny. Portland goalie Brendan Burke was not available, having developed a case of mononucleosis to go with a broken finger from Monday's game. In Burke's absence, Lane Delfs of the Cariboo Cougars major midget team, sat on the Portland bench as an emergency replacement... The Cats hit the road this weekend for games in Kelowna Friday, Kamloops Saturday and Seattle on Sunday.
