Nikita Popugaev is looking forward to his chance tonight to impress his former teammates.
If he does that and plays up to his capabilities as one of the most highly-touted undrafted prospects in the junior hockey world, the Prince George Cougars stand a much better chance of defeating the Moose Jaw Warriors tonight at CN Centre (7 p.m. start).
On Wednesday. Popugaev was listed by NHL Central Scouting as the 18th-ranked North American skater. With 30 teams looking to restock their cupboards in the NHL draft June 24-25 in Chicago, there's a good chance the six-foot-six, 202-pound Russian will be taken in the first round.
Acquired in a trade from Moose Jaw on Jan. 5 for 17-year-old forward Justin Almeida, 18-year-old forward Yan Khomenko, a fifth-round bantam pick in 2017 and a second-rounder in 2018, the 18-year-old Popugaev instantly became the Cougars' leading scorer with 24 goals and 57 points.
Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk says he has all the tools to become a pro and he's only going to get better as he learns his new team's systems.
"He's a good player and great kid with good manners and he's very well-respected," said Matvichuk. "He's only had one practice with us and he's still trying to figure out where to be and how to get there. Once he figures that out, he's going to be a very good player for us. His skating and skill and his size take care of itself."
In eight games with the Cougars, Popugaev has two goals and four assists, including a one-goal, two-assist effort in Lethbridge last Friday, a game in which the Cougars overcame a 5-1 third-period deficit to beat the Hurricanes 6-5 in a shootout. He's had today marked on his calendar ever since he came to Prince George.
"It's real exciting to play against (the Warriors) because I played for them (for 1 1/2 seasons)," said Popugaev, a native of Moscow. "They still have a really good team with a lot of good guys. Jayden Halbgewachs is a pretty dangerous player; he has the most points in Moose Jaw."
The Warriors (27-12-6-1) rank fifth overall in the WHL and they're just four points behind the East Division-leading Regina Pats, who hold five games in hand over the Warriors. The Warriors, who won 3-2 in overtime Wednesday in Kelowna, are 6-3-1-0 in their past 10 games.
They're led offensively by Halbgewachs (38-34-72) who ranks third in the WHL scoring race, and LW Brayden Burke (14-49-63, seventh in WHL), who started the season in Lethbridge. The Warriors have the WHL's fifth-most potent offence with the likes of San Jose Sharks prospect C Noah Gregor (20-32-52); C Brett Howden (23-26-49), a first-round, 27th-overall pick of the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2016, and C Thomas Foster (12-19-31), acquired from the Vancouver Giants at the trade deadline. Gregor remains out with a lower-body injury.
This will be first chance for the former Cougars to face their former team. Khomenko has one assist in seven games with Moose Jaw, while Almeida is still looking for his first point as a Warrior.
Two 20-year-olds, Matt Sozanski and Josh Thrower, anchor the Warriors defence. Sozanski and Josh Brook,17, each have 25 points this season. D Dmitri Zaitsev, 18, was a seventh-round pick of the Washington Capitals in 2016. In goal, 19-year-old Zach Sawchenko (3.10 goals-against average, .914 save percentage), sports a 17-7-0 record in 29 games, while 18-year-old Brody Wilms (3.14, .909) has a 10-5-1 record through 20 games.
By necessity, the Cougars have been the comeback kids of the WHL the past two weeks. Ever since their 4-1 loss in Red Deer Jan. 10 they've reeled off five straight wins, all games in which the Cougars trailed after two periods. They had to rally from a 3-1 deficit Tuesday against Portland and needed a shootout to defeat the Winterhawks 6-5 in the rematch Wednesday at CN Centre.
Radovan Bondra has been everything the Cougars had hoped since he arrived in a trade two weeks ago from Vancouver. His shootout goal Wednesday was a big-league move, a hard wrist shot through the legs of goalie Cole Kehler. The six-foot-five, 219-pound Bondra was a fifth round pick of the Chicago Blackhawks in 2016 and with four goals and four assists in five games since joining the Cougars, it seems only a matter of time before the 'Hawks sign him to a contract. Since he started playing for the Cougars five games ago in Medicine Hat, he's done nothing but win.
"We've had lots of tough games the last few games, usually losing in the first and second period and then we come back in the third period," said the Slovakian-born-and-raised Bondra "We're doing very well, but we need to figure out the first and second period and then we can become the best team in the league.
"I had points with the Giants too, but this is different. The whole team is great and I'm so happy I can be part of this team."
Bondra has shown great chemistry playing on a line with Jansen Harkins and Colby McAuley, and says he's looking forward to matching up against Foster, his former teammate with the Giants.
Special teams play has been a factor in preventing the Cougars from putting their opponents away earlier. McAuley's goal in the third period Wednesday was only the fourth in the past 43 power-play opportunities for the Cougars. They rank 20th in the 22-team league, scoring on only 15.9 per cent of their manpower advantages. Only Vancouver (14.9 per cent) and Price Albert (12.9 per cent) are worse. At home, the Cougars PP has scored at 20.2 per cent pace, 13th in the league, but on the road (11.0 per cent) they're dead-last.
"I think we have the guys on our team to produce and score on the power play," said Cougars winger Brad Morrison, who had a goal and two assists Wednesday. "We all have to be on the same page and we've been doing that, the problem with our power play has been our execution, and when we get a chance to score we just have to bear down and put the puck in the net.
"We're winning games but that's something we have to work on. We know we have to start the game focused and prepared to play and capitalize on our chances."
Just before McAuley's goal, the Cougars dodged a bullet when a bad line change led the Portland penalty-killers to a 3-on-1 chance in the Cougars' end. The night before that, the Cats gave up two shorthanded breakaways, one of which resulted in a goal for Winterhawks' sniper Skylar McKenzie.
Part of the problem is a lack of practice time since the new players were added. Since then, the Cougar coaches have had only one morning skate to work out the kinks on the power play, with no real breaks in the game schedule until the end of the month.
"We have to get back to playing the way we should and playing the way we know how to play instead of hoping we can show up in the third period and win hockey games," said Matvichuk. "On power plays, we have enough skill out there and the five guys out there have to get the work ethic and the manner that five guys have to outwork four. Right now we don't have that."
The Cougars have also allowed power play goals in each of the past eight games, which dropped them into second place in the WHL behind Everett, having killed off 85.3 per cent of their penalties this season.
"Specialty teams are huge and we have to figure out what's going on with our penalty kill and go back to basics," said Matvichuk. "If it's blocking shots or boxing guys out in front of our net and making the clears go down the ice properly. We're getting away from hard work and desperation hockey and that's why we were so successful on the PK."
The two wins over Portland left the Cougars (33-12-2-0) three points ahead of Regina atop the overall standings. In the B.C. Division, the Cats are 11 points ahead of second-place Kelowna Rockets, who play tonight in Vancouver.
The Cougars' brutal January schedule continues on the road Saturday in Kamloops, with games to follow next week in Vancouver (Tuesday), Red Deer (Friday) and Edmonton (Saturday and Sunday). The Cats will play nine of their 11 games in February at home.
Cougars' high-scoring winger Jesse Gabrielle will serve the third game of a three-game suspension tonight. D Sam Ruopp (upper-body injury) will be a game-time decision.
LOOSE PUCKS: Canadian Tire has already donated $25,000 to the Cougars Society 50/50 draw and chances are, with a near sellout crowd expected, the prize pool could reach six figures like it did back in November when it hit a record-setting $100,316 total.
