The Prince George Cougars are desperate for points in their push to make the WHL playoffs and after enduring a monstrous stretch of road games the past two weeks they finally found something worth celebrating in their return to CN Centre ice Sunday afternoon.
After losing 12 of their last 15 games, the gained a critical point in their 4-3 overtime loss to the Kamloops Blazers. It wasn’t the win the Cougars were after, but considering how close the standings are for the teams battling for the final three Western Conference playoff spots, one more point in the bank could make all the difference for the Prince George.
“This could be the point that puts us in the playoffs,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “It was a real gutsy effort for the whole team and I’m very proud of them.”
Daylan Kuefler scored the winner for the Blazers on a Kamloops power play 56 seconds into OT. Logan Stankoven slid the puck across the crease and got through the sliding body of Hudson Thornton and trickled under the pads of goalie Ty Young right to Keufler, who tapped it into the open net.
Coming on the heels of back-to-back blowout losses – 9-2 Friday in Kelowna, 8-2 Wednesday in Kamloops – the Cougars were vastly improved and it showed in their start. They got the crowd of 2,354 into it early, outscoring the Blazers 3-1 in the first period, scoring their first just 36 seconds in. Caden Brown created turnover in the neutral zone and let go a shot from just inside the blueline and the puck was tipped by Connor Bowie.
Then at 4:35, Riley Heidt accepted a gift from Blazers defenceman Ethan Brandwood and rifled a shot at Dylan Garand, who kicked out a rebound right to Heidt and he buried it in along the ice for his 20th goal of the season.
Logan Stankoven cut the lead in half 12 minutes in, scoring his 42nd of the season with a rebound over a fallen Cats goalie Ty Young. For Stankoven, the second-leading scorer in the WHL, it was his 29th goal and 63rd point since Jan. 1.
The Prince George power play then came through on its first chance, capitalizing on an undisciplined penalty after Blazers forward Drew Englot tackled Keaton Dowhaniuk deep in the Cougars’ end. Jonas Brondberg launched a shot from the point that was deflected in by Johnny Hooker, his team-leading eight power-play goal.
The Blazers were upset by the ninth-place Spokane Chiefs 6-5 Friday in Kamloops and obviously received some stern criticism from head coach Shaun Clouston when they went into the first intermission Sunday trailing the Cougars by a pair. Whatever was said, the Blazers raised their intensity significantly, building an 8-1 edge in shots to start the second period, and were rewarded responded with two quick goals to tie the game.
Brandwood atoned for his first-period mistake with a wrist shot that hit Dowhaniuk’s skate blade and found the net with traffic in front of goalie Young. Reece Belton picked the corner high on Young a few minutes later on a one-times shot from the face-off circle to make it a 3-3 game.
The Cougars had the ice tilted in their favour early in the third period and they put five shots on net, three of which came during their second power play of the game, but couldn’t get one behind Garand, Canada’s world junior team goalie. The Blazers had one of the best chances of the period about nine minutes in when they stole the puck at the blueline, which led to a 2-on-1 chance for Connor Levis. Fortunately for the Cougars, Young was on top of it and slid across to his glove-hand side to deny Levis on the tap-in chance. That save was key in locking up the point.
“He came down and could kind of tell he was ready for the pass and I kind of cheated on that wone a bit and was able to get there and it was a good stop,” said Young. ”I was just happy that save could force us to overtime.
“It was definitely a tough game last time, losing 8-2, and the boys needed to come out big and have a strong start and that’s exactly what they did, scoring two early goals. With Spokane climbing up on us in the playoff race, even that point makes us feel good.”
Despite blanket coverage from the Cougars’ line of Fischer O’Brien, Bowie and Brown, all of whom had an exceptional game at both ends of the ice, Stankoven finished with a goal and an assist and with 96 points in 55 games he’s just two behind Arshdeep Bains of the Red Deer Rebels in the WHL scoring race.
“Obviously our start wasn’t the greatest with them scoring on the first shift, it was a bit deflating, and going down 3-1 after the first we knew there was lots of hockey left,” said the 19-year-old Stankoven. “I really noticed that they played really good defence tonight and obviously they were line-matching Bowie’s line against my line every time I stepped onto the ice.
“I had to figure different ways to sneak behind the defence and it was nice to finally pull out a win in overtime.”
The Cougars later dropped to ninth in the Western Conference, one point behind the Spokane Chiefs. Spokane won its third game in three days Sunday, defeating the Giants 4-1 in Langley, after a 5-2 win over Vancouver on Saturday. The Cougars are out of playoff position now but are just two points behind sixth-place Vancouver and the seventh-place Victoria Royals.
Back for a four-game homestand after being displaced from their rink for two weeks by the World Women’s Curling Championship, the Cougars (22-37-3-1) have five games left, including a doubleheader at CN Centre Tuesday and Wednesday against the Kelowna Rockets. They’ll host the Victoria Friday night, then finish up the following weekend with games in Kamloops and Kelowna.
“If we keep staying consistent, winning games, we’ll be able to beat them and go into the playoffs this year for the first time in (five years) for the Cougars,” said Young.
Vancouver has six games left while Spokane and Victoria are down to their last four.
Their travel day Saturday and overnight hotel stay marked the first time in seven weeks the Blazers were forced out of sleeping in their own beds. The Blazers (46-16-2-0) have already clinched first place in the B.C. Division and they’re now just three points behind the Everett Silvertips for first place in the Western Conference.
“These are huge points right now, obviously we want to have home ice as much as possible for as long as possible going into the playoffs,” said Stankoven. “Everett’s still a few points ahead of us with a couple games in hand so every game for us is huge.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Steve O’Rourke, the Cougars’ director of player development, was behind the bench for the third straight game with associate coach Josh Dixon still in Ontario to be with his wife, who gave birth to their first child, a boy.
WHL Sunday summary
Blazers 4 at Cougars 3 (OT)
First Period
1. Prince George, Bowie 14 (Brown) 0:36
2. Prince George, Heidt 20, 4:35
3. Kamloops, Stankoven 42 (Lindgren, Bankier 12:26
4. Prince George, Hooker 15 (Brondberg, Dowhaniuk) 17:08 (pp)
Penalties – Hooker PG (delay of game) 7:57, Englot Kam (tripping) 15:47.
Second Period
5. Kamloops, Brandwood 6 (Hammell, Levis) 2:39
6. Kamloops, Belton 12 (Englot, Bairos) 6:46
Penalties – Lindgren Kam (roughing), Brown PG (roughing) 0:23, Schmiemann Kam (fighting), Ziemmer PG (fighting) 15:02, Singer PG (rughing) 15:15.
Third Period
No scoring.
Penalties – Englot Kam (closing hand on puck) 2:23, Heidt PG (delay of game) 19:41.
Overtime
7. Kamloops, Kuefler 38 (Stankoven, Bankier) 0:56 (pp)
Shots on goal by
Kamloops 17 16 9 3 -45
Prince George 13 5 13 0 -31
Goal – Kamloops, Garand (W,32-8-0-0); Prince George, Young (L,4-7-2-0).
Power plays – Kam: 1-3; PG: 1-2.
Referees – Brayden Arcand, Taylor Burzminski; Linesmen – Tyler Garden, Anthony Maletta.
Attendance – 2,354.
