Don’t look now but the Prince George Cougars are on a winning streak.
They won their second-straight game Sunday evening in Langley, beating the Vancouver Giants 5-4.
Two goals in the latter half of the third period gave the Cougars a 5-3 lead with six minutes left on the clock. Pointman Ethan Samson cashed in a 5-on-3 power-play chance with a onetimer from the left side and rookie forward Caden Brown scored on a breakaway four minutes later, set up by defenceman Bauer Dumanski’s lob pass.
The Giants got goalie Will Gurski to the bench and Payton Mount pounced on a loose puck for his third goal of the game to make it a one-goal game with 1:38 left. The Cougars survived a last-second flurry from the Giants to preserve the victory, their second of a three-game trip this weekend that started with a split in Victoria. They lost 4-2 on Friday and shut out the Royals 3-0 on Saturday.
It marked the first time in 35 games the Cougars rallied to win when trailing after two periods.
The Cats improved their eighth-place WHL Western Conference record to 22-35-2-1, while the Giants dropped to 23-33-4-0, sixth in the conference.
The Giants went ahead 3-2 while shorthanded late in the second period when Cougar forward Koehn Ziemmer fell at centre ice and gave up the puck. Fabian Lysell fed Payton Mount and he blasted a shot in past Ty Young for his second goal of the period.
Ziemmer atoned for that mistake 4:13 into the third period when he got to his own rebound and filed it into the Giants’ net behind Connor Martin, who was subsequently replaced by backup goalie Gurski after allowing three goals on 19 shots.
The Cougars had the early lead after one period on goals from Hudson Thornton and Connor Bowie.
The Giants outshot the Cougars 34-28
Prince George is now three points back of the Giants and the seventh-place Victoria Royals, who have played three more games than have the Cougars. The Cats also hold a four-point edge over the ninth-place Spokane Chiefs and have played two fewer games than Spokane.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cats will reman on the road the next few days and play their next game Wednesday in Kamloops… Cougars associate coach Josh Dixon will leave the team temporarily to be with his wife, who is expecting their second child any day now. Dixon will be replaced by director of player development Steve O’Rourke. Dixon expects to be back behind the bench next Sunday, when the Cats return to CN Centre to play the Kamloops Blazers. Now with eight games left in the regular season, the Cats also play Friday in Kelowna…. The Cougars were without winger Aiden Reeves and winger Blake Eastman, who suffered a leg injury in a knee-on-knee hit with Victoria’s Tarun Fizer in Friday’s game.
