If this was a Vegas card game, the Prince George Cougars would have been folding their hands early.
They had very little to show for their efforts to defeat the stacked deck the Calgary Hitmen brought to the table Wednesday night in Calgary in a 3-0 victory.
Ukrainian import Pavel Padakin was the ace in the fold for the Hitmen with two goals in the second period after Zane Jones had opened the scoring.
Ottawa Senators draft pick Chris Driedger, the game's first star, made 30 saves to earn his third shutout of the season as Calgary outshot the Cougars 31-30.
The win was the third straight for the Hitmen (13-6-1-3), who moved into a tie with Prince Albert for third place in the WHL Eastern Conference. The Cougars (9-14-1-3) remain two points behind the Vancouver Giants for the eighth and final playoff position in the Western Conference.
Jones's goal came 19:17 into the first period on a Calgary power play after a turnover in the faceoff circle. The Cougars, to that point, had outplayed and outchanced the Hitmen, but couldn't beat Driedger.
"We were happy with our first period, it's a tough building to play in and guys are always starstruck with all the seats being at the Saddledome," said Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker. "We killed the first penalty and the second one was a late goal in the penalty kill. We had a chance to clear the puck, turned it over and it was in the back of the net and that was a little bit of a deflator."
The Cougars didn't get many second-shot rebounds and Driedger saw most of the pucks that came his way, which limited the Cougars' offence. Their special teams didn't help either. Calgary went 2-for-7 on the power play, the Cougars were 0-for-6.
"Special teams were the difference in the game tonight," said Becker. "If we get one goal early on those power plays it changes the game. It's about execution, they don't need to make pretty pictures out there, just make a couple of good passes, get pucks to the net and eventually something's going to go in for us.
"We were just rolling lines [on the power play], hoping something was going to work."
Zach Pochiro, the Cougars' third-leading scorer with 10 goals and 22 points, collided with a Hitman player in the second period and did not return to the ice. Defenceman Tate Olson also left the game in the second period. The Cougars were already without LW Jari Erricson (concussion), D Joseph Carvalho (broken jaw), RW David Soltes (knee injury) and D Zach Gonek (healthy scratch).
The Cats' trip continues tonight in Edmonton, where they face the Oil Kings (14-8-0-1), and wraps up on Saturday when they visit the Red Deer Rebels.
