On the surface, Saturday's 6-3 loss in Brandon was yet another sorry chapter in the sad saga of the Prince George Cougars.
They keep finding ways to lose, but it was vastly improved Cougar team that took on the Wheat Kings as compared to the team that lost 8-0 Friday to the Regina Pats.
The common theme in both weekend games was undisciplined penalties and the Wheat Kings and their No. 2-ranked power play crushed the Cougars, scoring on three of seven manpower advantages.
"Obviously, that's the difference in the game,"said Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker. "It was a 6-3 game and if we take those three [power-play] goals away it's a tie game.
"Before the game we talked about how good their power play is -- second-ranked in the Western Hockey League at about 24 per cent -- and we took too many bad penalties and it ended up costing us."
Five-on-five, the Cougars had the edge in play and Becker thought his team deserved a better fate. It didn't help that the Cats went 0-for-3 on the power play.
As has been the pattern in seven of their most recent eight games, all but two of which ended in Prince George losses, the Cougars fell behind early. Brandon centre Peter Quenneville, a Cougars draft pick in 2009, scored just 5:51 into the game with the Cougars serving a bench penalty for too many men, and less than two minutes later Quintin Lisoway followed suit at even strength. The half-period time out woke up the Cougars and they responded with goals from Todd Fiddler and Klarc Wilson 47 seconds apart. They set up Harkins's sixth goal of the season midway through the second period to give the Cougars their only lead.
Three Brandon defencemen scored to provide the needed pushback as the Wheat Kings scored four unanswered goals. Eric Roy, who had been stripped of the puck by Fiddler to set up Harkins's goal, connected on a Brandon power play late in the second and Wheat King captain Ryan Pulock potted the winner at 10:31 of the third period. Ryan Pilon added another on a power-play and Quenneville scored his second of the game into an empty net.
"I thought Prince George played real well tonight," Wheat Kings head coach/general manager Kelly McCrimmon told Rob Henderson of the Brandon Sun. "They responded to a tough night (losing 8-0) Friday in Regina and even tonight were down 2-0 early in the game but didn't go away. I thought we had some big goals at key times. Eric Roy to tie the game in the second really helped us going into the intermission."
Ty Edmonds made 22 saves in the Cougar nets. Curtis Honey had a 25-save effort to pick up his ninth win of the season for Brandon.
The win left the Wheat Kings (26-17-5-0) one point behind the East Division-leading Swift Current Broncos, with Brandon holding three games in hand. Having lost seven of their last 10, the Cougars (18-26-25) have fallen 10 points behind the Tri-City Americans, who hold the eighth and final playoff position in the WHL Western Conference.
The Cougars were without three of their top eight scorers. Centre Alex Forsberg (concussion) and winger Chase Witala (upper body) out with injuries and centre Zach Pochiro was scratched as punishment for his undisciplined play after he took three straight minor penalties in the first period of the Regina game.
Harkins, a 16-year-old rookie, took Pochiro's spot on the top line, centring 20-year-olds Fiddler and Wilson, and that unit was dangerous most of the game, creating numerous scoring chances.
"Full marks for Jansen for stepping into that role, it's a lot to ask of a 16-year-old but he's a gamer and his game has been above and beyond since he came back from the [World Under-17 Hockey Challenge]," said Becker. "We've seen a big improvement in how he plays the game. He's one of the hardest working kids out there an it's nice to see him get rewarded."
Forward Aaron Boyd, 16, played his first game for the Cougars after he got called up from the Winnipeg midget ranks. He came close to collecting his first WHL goal in the first period, clanging the goalpost on his second shift.
The Cougars are in Prince Albert to play the Raiders tonight (5 p.m., CIRX 94.3 FM). The slumping Raiders (23-23-2-0) have also lost seven of their last 10.
