Kody McDonald picked up right where he left off as the villain in the Prince George Cougars' universe.
For the second time in two weeks, the 20-year-old Victoria Royals winger was the primary punisher against his former team. McDonald scored two goals and had an assist Friday and the Royals hung on to a 4-3 win over the visiting Cougars.
The Lethbridge native, picked by the Cougars in the second round of the 2013 WHL bantam draft, was traded to Prince Albert in January 2018. The Raiders, who lead the WHL overall standings this season, shipped him to Victoria just before the Jan. 10 trade deadline.
A poor start sunk the Cougars. McDonald opened the scoring 3:37 into Friday's game with his 19th of the season.
He drew an assist on Phillip Schultz's goal, 6:16 into the first, which made it 2-0.
The Cougars cut the lead a few minutes later with a power-play goal from Josh Maser, his team-leading 27th of the season, but Victoria answered at the 16:30 mark with a power-play goal from Tarun Fizer. The Royals outshot the Cats 16-7 in the opening period.
Back on Feb. 16 at CN Centre, McDonald scored two third-period goals and had the winner in the shootout for a 5-4 victory over the Cats.
McDonald made it a 4-1 game 4:26 into the second period, wiring a shot from the circle in over the glove of Gauthier, who was yanked out of the game at that point after allowing four goals in 18 shots.
His replacement, Isaiah DiLaura blocked all five shots he faced in the middle frame and was flawless the rest of the game, stopping all five shots he faced in the third period.
Matej Toman, the Cougars Czech import, cut the gap to 4-2 early in the third period when he tipped in a point shot from Jack Sander. The Cougars made it a one-goal game with the extra attacker in the final minute when Reid Perepeluk went five-hole on goalie Griffen Outhouse.
The Cougars outshot the Royals 19-5 in the third period and 35-28 in the game.
The win for Victoria (35-22-2-2) improved the Royals' stake on second place in the B.C. Division. The Cougars (17-38-5-3) remain last in the Western Conference. They've won just one of their last 22 games and have five games left in the season, including the rematch with the Royals tonight.
