There’s no getting around it.
The Prince George Cougars know that if they fail to get any points in their last three remaining games they can forget about making playoff plans.
The Cougars, who were idle Friday, are ninth in the WHL’s Western Conference, one point behind the seventh-place Vancouver Giants and the eighth-place Victoria Royals, who each have 50 points. Prince George is two points back of the sixth-place Spokane Chefs, who take a four-game winning streak into Seattle on Saturday.
The Kamloops Blazers did the Cougars a big favour Friday when they beat the Royals 4-3 Friday in Kamloops. Matthew Seminoff scored the winner for the Blazers with just four seconds left in the third period.
The Royals will be in Prince George Saturday night to face the Cougars in their regular season home date at CN Centre (7 p.m. start), a game of critical importance for both teams. Depending on what happens tonight in Kamloops, a regulation win over Victoria could vault the Cats ahead of the Royals.
“It’s the biggest game of the year,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “We match up good with Victoria and that’s why it’s going to be such a fun game. You know you’ve got three games left and you’re right down to the wire for a playoff spot, it’s very exciting.”
After Saturday’s game, the Cougars and Royals will each have two games left. The Cougars will head to Kamloops on Friday and finish out their 68-game schedule the following Saturday in Kelowna. The Royals will host Spokane in a two-game set next weekend set to close out their season.
The Giants, who lost their seventh-straight game, 7-2 Friday to the visiting Portland Winterhawks, still have five games remaining. They’ll be in Kelowna Saturday and Sunday, then have home games in Langley Wednesday against Seattle and Friday against Kelowna. Vancouver wraps up its season next Saturday in Kamloops.
The Cougars have lost five straight and 15 of their last 18 games. They returned last weekend from a five-game, 10-day roadtrip, and are coming off back-to-back losses at home to the Kelowna Rockets. They dropped a 1-0 decision in overtime on Tuesday and fell to the Rockets 4-1 on Wednesday. In that game, the Cougars allowed two power-play goals and went scoreless in three power-play opportunities.
“The power play has been really good but the last couple game it was lacking and it cost us points,” said Lamb. “That’s how we lost. That game (Wednesday), structurally we played a solid game but the power play and the penalty killing let us down. When they win the special teams battle you don’t usually lose.”
The Cougars will be without starting goalie Tyler Brennan. The 18-year-old Winnipeg native, who played in the CHL/NHL Top Prospects game a could weeks ago, aggravated a pre-existing upper-body injury when he was involved in a collision with a Rockets player during the Cougars 9-2 loss in Kelowna on April 1.
Ty Young, 17, drew both starts in the Kelowna series earlier this week and will get the start again Saturday, backed by 16-year-old prospect Madden Mulawka, a fifth-round pick of the Cougars in the 2021 WHL draft. Young made 35 saves against the Rockets Tuesday as the game’s first star and blocked 20 Rockets shots in the rematch.
“I thought he played well,” said Lamb. “We’ve said it; we’ve got two really good young goalies and every night it’s a great experience for them and our team. It’s not like it’s anything new right now, we’ve been going through this for a long time. We don’t have experience but we’re getting experience in this situation.”
The Cougars will also be without right winger Blake Eastman who re-injured the same knee that’s limited him to just 49 games this season. Fifteen-year-old forward Hunter Laing is up on a call-up from Rink Academy Kelowna and is available if the Cougars need him.
They Royals’ injury list includes forwards Caleb Wilms (upper body, week-to-week) and Keanu Derungs (upper body, week-to-week). Forward Carter Dereniwsky and defenceman Jacson Alexander are out for the season with injuries.
While crowd counts are down across the WHL compared to the 2019-20 season, attendance at Cougar games has been abysmal. Through 33 games, the team is averaging just 1,889 fans per game (down from 2,433 in 2019-20) playing in a building that seats 5,971. Only Winnipeg (1,541) and Swift Current (1,440) rank worse in attendance in the 22-team WHL.
Saturday’s game could be the last of the season at CN Centre and Lamb and the Cougars obviously hope to see more people in the building when they take on the Royals.
“It would certainly be nice for the guys,” said Lamb. “We’re in a playoff hunt here, this is what you play for. It’s been a long hard year with a very young exciting group that’s got a great future. For us, we think it’s the most exciting time right now. It’s playoff hockey right now and it’s our last home game.”
