Jansen Harkins made it abundantly clear to the Kamloops Blazers over the weekend.
He’s back in the groove that made him a coveted NHL prospect.
The 18-year-old Winnipeg Jets draft pick was money in the bank again for the Prince George Cougars Saturday night at CN Centre. Harkins collected two goals and an assist in a 6-1 win, robbing the Blazers of their chance for redemption after a lopsided loss to the Cougars the night before.
Knowing Connor Ingram, the CHL’s goaltender of the month in December, was out of the Blazers' lineup, the Cougars executed their plan to put early pressure on his replacement, 17-year-old Dylan Ferguson. And it was Harkins who made him squirm first.
He took a Joseph Carvalho pass off the side boards and toe-dragged a high snap shot in over Ferguson’s shoulder, 3:09 into the game.
Jesse Gabrielle added to the total 82 seconds later when he came lurking out of the corner into the slot and let rip a quick shot that deflected in off Ferguson’s glove.
Nothing like an early 2-0 lead to get the party started for the crowd of 4,665 mostly Cougar supporters -- and it just kept getting better for them.
“We played a good game and we got rewarded for playing it the right way,” said Harkins. “Kamloops is a good team and they compete and they showed us that tonight, but we just stuck to our gameplan and just focused on what we could control as a team.
“I feel pretty good. I think I’m just playing with confidence right now and I have good linemates with Brad (Morrison) and Jared (Bethune) and we use each other and just focus on what we can control as players.”
The Kamloops-Prince George rivalry heated up in the second period. Cougar winger Bartek Bison tripped up a Kamloops player along the boards and Blazer tough-guy Jermaine Loewen stepped in to try to impose his own brand of martial law in retaliation. That touched off a couple of scraps which resulted in ejections for Cougars Kolby Johnson and Shaun Dosanjh and Blazers Nolan Kneen.
The Cougars dominated the scoreboard again in the second period and had most of the offensive zone time.
Bethune collected his 14th of the season with a spin move through the slot while fighting to maintain control of the puck, which made it a 3-0 count. Then the Cats won a draw in the Blazer end and kept the puck moving, which allowed Harkins enough time and space to feed a goalmouth pass across to Morrison, who tapped it in for his 20th goal.
Although they weren’t scoring, it wasn’t like the Blazers weren’t getting quality chances. They started the second period on the power play and Jiri Smejkal had a shot at an open net which Aaron Boyd just got a piece of before it had a chance to spoil what had been a perfect night for Cougars goalie Ty Edmonds. Not long after, Deven Sideroff missed the net completely while standing all alone with the puck in front, followed by another Smejkal misfire. Matt Revel did the same thing towards the end of the period after an errant puck kicked out to him in the slot from a collection of bodies in the corner.
“I thought we had a lot of good chances and didn’t capitalize on them, and I’m disappointed we didn’t bear down when we had the opportunity, said Blazers head coach Don Hay. “Prince George took advantage of their chances, they got the goals early and we ended up chasing the game.”
Harkins picked up his second of the game early in the third period, after Morrison’s shot from close range was blocked. Harkins knew what to do with it for his 15th goal of the season. Harkins had two goals in Friday’s 9-4 win over the Blazers and now has seven goals in 11 games this month, nearly equalling his eight-goal output the first three months of the season.
“I thought that might have been Jansen’s best game this year,” said Cougars head coach Mark Holick. “He controlled the play, he settled things down when he needed to, he changed speeds, he did some real good things.”
The Blazers finally put one past Edmonds with their 20th shot of the game, 4:16 into the third. Defenceman Conner McDonald potted his first of the season with a slapper from the point. Brogan O’Brien completed the scoring on a Cougar power play.
Blazers leading pointgetter Collin Shirley has been a thorn in the side of the Cougars with four goals and five assists in the first four games against them this season. He collected two assists Friday and had one helper on Saturday.
Former Blazer right winger Luke Harrison and his linemates Kody McDonald and Colby McAuley drew the assignment in both games to hound the Blazers’ top scoring line of Shirley, Revel and Gage Quinney.
“We had a big task playing against Shirley’s line, our line just came out and started forechecking right off the bat and we shut them down,” said the 20-year-old Harrison. “The team really decided to come out and take away four points from a really good team. We had good crowds both nights and we just needed to get the fans into it right away, there was a lot of emotion in both games.”
While the Blazers missed Ingram, their MVP goalie, Ferguson had played 11 games this season before he was called into service when Ingram suffered what’s believed to be a leg injury after a collision with Gabrielle just outside the Kamloops net.
“Dylan has played before; he’s got to learn to go in there at those times and just give us an opportunity to have some success,” said Hay. “He’s learning the game and I think we as a group have to play better defensively. We can’t give up that many goals and expect to win.”
Hay said the extent of Ingram’s injury won’t be known until he sees his doctor this week in Kamloops.
With the win, the Cougars moved into a third-place tie with Everett for third place in the Western Conference. The Cougars and Silvertips are three points behind the second-place Victoria Royals and nine behind the first-place Kelowna Rockets. The Royals were 8-0 winners over the Vancouver Giants Saturday in Victoria and also took Sunday's rematch 5-1.
LOOSE PUCKS: Enticed by the chance to win a 2016 Nissan Micra, Saturday’s game was one of the best-attended this season at CN Centre. Linda Glover won the draw for the car, sponsored by Northland Nissan... The Cougars return to the ice Monday night at CN Centre to take on the Medicine Hat Tigers. The game marks the return of 20-year-old Tigers goalie Mack Shields, who started the season with the Cougars… The Cougars leave Wednesday for the start of a 12-day, six-game tour of the WHL East Division.
Saturday WHL summary
Blazers 1 at Cougars 6
First Period
1. Prince George, Harkins 14 (Carvalho, Collins) 3:09
2. Prince George, Gabrielle 29 (Boyd) 4:27
Penalties – Vela Kam (interference) 9:42, Morrison PG (goaltender interference) 11:44, Gabrielle PG (roughing) 16:17,Witala PG (slashing) 19:37.
Second Period
3. Prince George, Bethune 14 (McAuley, Harrison) 12:11
4. Prince George, Morrison 20 (Harkins, Bethune) 14:57
Penalties – Carvalho PG (roughing) 2:16, Quinney Kam (holding) 2:58, Dosanjh PG (slashing) 6:24, Neeedham Kam (hooking) 6:44, Loewen Kam (roughing), Benjafield Kam (fighting), Kneen Kam (fighting, game misconduct), Bison PG (tripping), Lakusta PG (fighting), Johnson PG (fighting, game misconduct), Dosanjh PG (game misconduct) 9:3, Pylon PG (charging) 9:40, Smejkal Kam (roughing), Lakusta PG (roughing) 17:04.
Third Period
5. Prince George, Harkins 15 (Morrison) 2:25
6. Kamloops, McDonald 1 (Vela, Shirley) 4:16
7. Prince George, O’Brien 13 (Olson, Witala) 10:40
Penalties – Campese Kam (roughing), Bison PG (slashing) 5:09, Valentine Kam (holding) 7:49, Rehill Kam (high-sticking) 10:30, Loewen Kam (slashing), McDonald PG (double-roughing) 11:04, Smejkal Kam (slashing), Ruopp PG (unsportsmanlike conduct) 12:12, Bison PG (tripping) 13:27.
Shots on goal by
Kamloops 11 7 11 --29
Prince George 9 11 11 --32
Goal – Kamloops, Ferguson (L,3,8-0-0); Prince George, Edmonds (W,17-10-1-0).
Power plays – Kam: 0-6 ; PG: 1-5.
Referees – Tyler Adair, Sean Raphael; Linesmen – Nick Bilko, Nathan Van Oosten.
Attendance – 4,668.
Scratches – Kamloops: G Connor Ingram (injured), D Dawson Davidson (injured), LW Jake Kryski (undetermined), RW Bast (undetermined); Prince George: G Nick McBride (lower-body injury), D Luka Zorko (healthy), RW Josh Curtis (healthy), C Justin Almeida (healthy), D Josh Anderson (back injury, week-to-week), D Max Martin (shoulder surgery, week-to-week).
