Nobody could have blamed the Vancouver Giants for thinking they were heading for an early-round knockout of the Prince George Cougars.
The Giants had the injury-riddled Cats battered and bloody, pounding three goals past them and badly outshooting them before Saturday's game was 13 minutes old.
Time to fold up the tent and hand out the two points to the CN Centre visitors, right?
Think again.
As much as they were longshots to come back and make a game of it, three long shots were all it took for the Cougars to wipe the slate clean. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they didn't have an answer in the second period for Tim Traber.
The 20-year-old Quesnel minor hockey product broke for the net on a delayed penalty to the Cougars and was in perfect position for the tip-in on a pinpoint cross-ice feed from Thomas Foster for the gamewinner. Cain Franson added an empty-netter to cap a 5-3 Giants' victory.
"We allowed those two quick goals that kind of killed our start and we battled back but it just wasn't enough," said Cougars defenceman Marc McNulty. "We didn't execute and we'll have to be better next weekend. It's a tough loss but we'll come back."
The Giants' first goal came off a weird bounce off the end boards which landed at the feet of Jackson Houck standing tight to the post. A heads-up pinch from the point left Giants defenceman Blake Orban open in the slot to make it 2-0, and d-man Dalton Thrower added to the total with a point shot that appeared to skip off the ice before it got to the net behind Ty Edmonds.
"I can't be giving up three in the first, we have to be better than that," said Edmonds. "It's good that we came back but we still have to get a better chance to have a better chance of winning every night."
Before the first period ended, McNulty's long wrist shot sailed into the net behind a screened Jared Rathjen. As the start of the second period the Cougars were getting outshot 6-0 but managed to sneak two more goals in within a 1:29 span to make it a 3-3 game by the five-minute mark of the period.
Alex Forsberg got his stick on a rebound and went wide around Rathjen for the second Cougar goal 2:33 into the second period and rookie defenceman Sam Ruopp banked a shot in off Thrower in front for his second of the season.
"They got a couple bounces, a couple pucks I couldn't see and I thought I did a good job on the everything I could see and gave us a chance here," said Rathjen, who made 31 saves as the Giants outshot the Cougars 54-34. "They're a team that pushes late and we responded."
As deflating as Traber's goal was for the Cougars, they kept coming, despite feeling the obvious effects of having so few healthy bodies on the bench.
Injuries kept six Cougars in street clothes, including forwards David Soltes (knee), Jari Erricson (concussion), and Zach Pochiro (concussion); defencemen Raymond Grewal (ankle) and Tate Olson (concussion); and goalie Brett Zarowny (groin). Cats winger Brett Roulston, still
recovering from a knee injury, was on the bench but did not see any icetime. They were also without captain Troy Bourke, who was serving the second of a three-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit which sidelined Red Deer forward Matt Bellerive.
"With the amount of players we have available, to get into a river hockey game with them or anyone is
counterproductive," said Cougars head Mark Holick.
"We didn't cash in some of the opportunities we had. I'm not using injuries as an excuse and I don't think any of our players are. Other teams go through injuries and we have enough in that room, especially up front, that we should be able to make a bit of a push. It's important into this homestand that we chalk up some wins because it just gets harder after Christmas."
The Giants lost 6-5 to the Cougars in a shootout Friday.
The Giants (12-11-4-2) rank eighth in the WHL Western Conference and are now four points head of the ninth-place Cougars (11-16-1-3) with two games in hand.
"All four of our games in this building this year have been roller coasters, one team gets up and other team comes back, and it seem like neither team quits," said Giants head coach Don Hay. "It was almost a carbon copy of [Friday's] game and we really put in the effort to get the two points. The Cougars have some pretty talented guys who can create some offence and Jared has been playing really well for us. It's always great to see a hometown boy play well in front of his family and friends and I hope he can keep it up. He's pushing Payton [Lee] hard to stay in the net."
LOOSE PUCKS: Chase Witala is the Cougars' Hubbell Designer Goldsmiths player of the month for November.
The 18-year-old forward collected eight goals in 12 games the past month and is tied with Bourke for the team lead with 29 points..
Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker will have his head shaved today to keep his promise after the Cougars/CHL Movember campaign reached its target of raising at least $2,500 to promote men's health.
