Four straight wins?
It hadn’t happened in nearly five seasons for the Prince George Cougars.
Well they did it again in a 4-1 win over the Victoria Royals Saturday night in Victoria, handing the Royals their seventh-straight loss. All four Cougars wins have come at the expense of the Royals, who will be in Prince George Tuesday and Wednesday to face the Cats in the conclusion of a six-game regular season series between the two WHL B.C. Division rivals.
Before that, the Cougars last won four in a row on Jan. 18, 2017.
In Saturday’s game, Swiss import winger Leikit Reichle staked the Cougars to an early lead when he teamed up with Jarin Brinson and Koehn Ziemmer to collect his first career WHL goal, 5:48 into the first period.
The Royals struck later in the period and Carter Briltz beat goalie Taylor Gauthier for his first WHL snipe.
It remained a tie game until the 16:30 mark of the second period, when Cougars winger Blake Eastman picked up a loose puck left in the crease and put it into the Royals goal behind Campbell Arnold. The 19-yeasrr-old goalie made his first start in net for Victoria since being acquired in a trade from the Spokane Chiefs.
The Cougars put the game out of reach in the third period. Ziemmer scored his second of the season, set up by linemate Craig Armstrong, and Connor Bowie added another goal into an empty net.
The win moved the Cougars (4-3-0-0) into second place in the B.C. Division, two points ahead of the third-place Vancouver Giants, who have played two fewer games than Prince George. In the four games against Victoria, the Cougars allowed just five goals.
The Cougars had the edge in shots, 34-29. They went without a power play in the game, while the Royals ended up 0-for-3.
