With their captain and best player watching from the seats, the Prince George Cougars had no trouble scoring enough goals to win. The problem is, they didn't. Now, they are facing playoff elimination at the hands of the Kelowna Rockets.
Tuesday night, in front of 2,475 fans at CN Centre, the Rockets scored a trio of third-period goals and beat the Cougars 7-6. With the win, the Rockets took a 3-0 lead in the WHL Western Conference quarterfinal series and can wrap things up with a victory in Game 4 tonight.
The Cougars played without 46-goal-man Brett Connolly, who has a separated right shoulder and is all but certain to miss tonight's game as well.
In the pivotal third period, the Rockets erased a 5-4 Cougars lead on goals by Prince George product Brett Bulmer, Shane McColgan and Cody Chikie. Martin Marincin got one back for the Cougars while they had goaltender Ty Rimmer pulled for the extra attacker, but, despite a couple of chances in the last five seconds, they got no closer.
Through the first three games of the series, the Rockets have outscored the Cougars 10-1 in third periods.
In the game, the Cougars outshot the Rockets 41-29.
Puck-drop tonight is at 7.
