Jansen Harkins has been a huge help for the Prince George Cougars and their February revival.
And he's got the helpers to prove it.
The second-year centre added three more assists to his team-leading total Saturday night in Everett, leading the Cougars to a 5-1 win which moved them into a playoff position for the first time in more than a month.
Harkins set up Chase Witala for the tying goal on a Cougars' power play 13:02 into the first period, after former Cougar Jake Mykitiuk had opened the scoring. In the second period, Harkins assisted on Aaron Boyd's sixth goal of the season and Zach Pochiro followed that with an unassisted effort late in the period.
Jari Erricson made it 4-1 on another Cougars' power play early in the third period and Witala capped the scoring at 17:48 while shorthanded, taking a pass from Pochiro to net his team-leading 32nd goal of the season.
Harkins now has 57 assists in 61 games, one shy of the franchise assist record of 58 set by Quinn Hancock, and leads the Cats in scoring with 76 points.
Ty Edmonds made 27 saves for the Cougars, who fired 29 shots at Everett goalie Austin Lotz.
The Cougars went 2-for-4 on the power play and held the Silvertips scoreless in five power-play chances.
The win improved the Cougars' record to 26-33-2-2, while Everett, the first-place team in the U.S. Division, dropped to 37-19-3-4. Combined with the Vancouver Giants' 6-3 loss Saturday in Kamloops, that allowed the Cougars to move one point ahead of the Giants into third place in the B.C. Division. Only the top three teams in each division as well as two wild-card teams in each conference, will make the WHL playoffs.
After enduring an 11-game losing streak in January, the Cougars won six of their 10 games in February and gained points in eight of those 10 games.
On Wednesday, the Cougars will host the Calgary Hitmen, the top team in the Central Division, followed by a weekend set at CN Centre against the Victoria Royals. If the season ended now, the Cougars would be facing the second-place Royals in the opening round of the playoffs.
