The pattern that's repeating itself offers no comfort to the Prince George Cougars.
It does little to soothe the souls of a Cougar team that, one night after it embarrassed one of the top teams in the WHL with an impressive road victory, followed it up Saturday with a thoroughly disheartening 5-1 loss to Red Deer Rebels.
The Cougars had virtually nothing going their way in another disappointing outcome that dropped their record to 10-15-1-3, three points behind the Vancouver Giants for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference.
With just three wins in their last 14 games, it's no surprise the Cougars now have the fifth-worst record in a 22-team league. Only once this season have they won consecutive games. That was back on Oct. 1, when they shut out the Victoria Royals on home ice after beating the Blazers in Kamloops.
They've proven they can beat some of the best teams with wins over Everett (twice), Seattle, Calgary, and Edmonton but inevitably, the bad side of the Cougars' Jekyll and Hyde personality shows up whenever they take on their next opponent. That was indeed the case Saturday, where the Cats reverted to their old ways the night after they blasted the Edmonton Oil Kings 8-3.
"Our lack of consistency in back-to-back games is an obvious concern," said Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker. "I'm not sure they understood the importance of it or what was at stake for us here. It's been a long time since we've had back to back wins and [Saturday's] game is very disappointing.
"I think what hurt us was our back end. It was kind of the weak link for us and we have to go back to the drawing board and try to nail into their minds the importance of D-zone and what their roles and responsibilities are every time."
The Rebels took control late in the first period with a last-minute goal from Evan Polei, a backhander under the blocker of Ty Edmonds that seemed to flatten all four tires on the Cougar bus. They had nothing left after that for the final two periods and the Rebels seized the opportunity. Domenik Volek scored twice in the second period and with a third period goal Rhyse Dieno added insult to injury.
Or should that read, injuries.
The already-hobbled Cougars, who lost winger Zach Pochiro and defenceman Tate Olson to head injuries in the Calgary game on Friday, now have to deal with an ankle injury to defenceman Raymond Grewal, who got hurt in the third period in Red Deer. The Cats are already missing forwards Jari Erricson (concussion), David Soltes (knee) and defenceman Joseph Carvalho (broken jaw), and it could get worse. Centre Troy Bourke was given a five-minute kneeing penalty and game misconduct 17:48 into the third period Saturday for his knee-on-knee hit on Rebels winger Matt Bellerive. Bellerive had to be helped off the ice and Bourke, who is due to play in Alberta this week for Team WHL in the Subway Super Series against Russia, could face a suspension.
"I don't think it's too serious, I'm getting an X-ray in the next day or two," said Grewal. "We're pretty banged up right now.
"It was a tough game. We didn't play as well as we could have, we played so well in Edmonton, but we took a couple steps back. We weren't skating as well as we could have."
Defenceman Marc McNulty, who was hobbled by a shot to the ankle but stayed in the game. On a power play, McNulty was the lone Cougar to get one past rookie goalie Tas Burman, who stood in front of 41 shots. Conner Bleackley opened the scoring for Red Deer 4:17 into the game. Volek's first of the game came while the Cougars were playing shorthanded, the 12th consecutive road game in which the Cats have allowed a power-play goal.
Josh Anderson, a 15-year-old major midget defenceman from Duncan, picked in the first round of the WHL bantam draft, played his second game with the Cougars. Becker liked what he saw in the rookie.
"I don't think he looked out of place in the times he was on the ice," said Becker. "The game's a little bit faster than what he's used to at the major midget level but he handled himself well and I think he was physically ready for the games. He challenged players with the body and did a good job that way. The Cougars organization should look forward to a good player in the future with Josh."
The Cougars host Vancouver in their next game on Friday.
