Jordan Martinook had the hat trick as the Vancouver Giants extended the Prince George Cougars losing skid Friday to eight straight games with a 4-2 win.
Martinook scored his 10th goal of the season with less than three minutes to play at CN Centre after the Cougars erased a 3-0 deficit with a pair of power-play goals in the third period in front of a WHL crowd of 1,806.
Dalton Sward gave the visitors a 3-0 lead early in the third period, handcuffing Cougars' goaltender Drew Owsley with a quick shot from the hash mark. But the Cougars finally took advantage of two of eight power plays they had when defenceman Cody Carlson scored his first of the season and Charles Inglis pulled the home team to within one at 3-2.
Owsley stopped 24 shots as the Cougars (3-11-0-1) dropped their second game to the Giants (8-6-0-1) this week.
In the opening frame, the Cougars were unable to capitalize on two power plays and trailed 1-0 on a goal by Giants' centre Martinook when he tucked the puck inside the top corner from the open side of the net.
Martinook, a product of Leduc, Alta., potted his second of the game and eighth goal of the season, giving the Giants a 2-0 advantage after 40 minutes. Prince George took the play to the visitors early but couldn't find the twine behind Vancouver goalie Adam Morrison.
Dean Clark, Cougars' head coach, said for a team that had scored 29 goals in 14 games entering Friday's contest, falling behind doesn't help the confidence.
"It's tough for our team that's struggled to score goals when you get behind in the game," said Clark. "For some of our guys I think it seems like the hill's too steep.
"I thought we did a good job in the third - our power play got better. At least we won the specialty teams war [Friday]," he added.
The Cougars were 2-for-8 with the man-advantage, while killing off all three Giants' power plays.
Early in the second period Cougars' defenceman Josh Smith received an early shower after coming to the defence of teammate Taylar Thompson when Giants' forward Jackson Houck introduced his stick to Thompson's head. Houck was also given the gate.
CAT SCRATCHES: Martin Marincin and Troy Bourke were out of the line up Friday serving four- and one-game suspensions, respectively. Bourke returns to the Cougars' lineup tonight, but defenceman Marincin - the team's leading scorer through 14 games - has two more games to serve. Also missing from the Cougars' lineup were defenceman Daniel Gibb and forwards Chase Witala and Jordan Tkatch. In WHL news, Bruno Campese has removed himself as head coach of the struggling Prince Albert Raiders (4-11-1-1) to concentrate on his duties as general manager. Raiders' associate coach Steve Young inherits the head coaching duties. The Giants and Cougars face off again tonight at CN Centre, 7 p.m.
