Penalties will kill you when the penalty-kill doesn’t work.
The Prince George Cougars learned that lesson the hard way Saturday night in Kelowna, where they lost 4-3 in overtime to the Rockets.
The Cats were undisciplined at the wrong times and the Rockets exposed them for it, scoring three of their four goals with the man advantage – including Nolan Foote’s game-winner, 43 seconds into OT.
The Rockets had four skaters on the ice facing three Cougars defenders in front of Taylor Gauthier when Foote took a cross-ice feed from Lassi Thomson and blasted a screened shot into the Cougar net to end it. Overtime began with the Cougars on the penalty kill for the first 72 seconds, the carryover of Ryan Schoettler’s two-minute sentence for high-sticking Leif Mattson late in the third period.
Erik Gardiner and Kyle Topping also scored on Rocket power plays and Thomson struck at even strength, giving the Rockets their second win in as many games for head coach Adam Foote, who took over as head coach Tuesday to replace the fired Jason Smith.
Josh Maser, Jackson Leppard (on a Prince George power play) and Schoettler scored for the Cougars.
The Rockets (6-10-0-0) remained fourth in the WHL’s B.C. Division, one point behind the third-place Cougars (5-6-1-2). Kelowna has won four of its past five games.
“They won the special teams battle and that was the difference in the hockey game – we’ve got to be more disciplined,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. “We can’t take that many minors, it’s getting out of hand now. This is something I’m going to stomp on pretty quick. We’re going to have to start changing some things if guys can’t stay out of the penalty box.”
Through 14 games the Cougars have played shorthanded 62 times and have allowed 14 power-play goals, a 77.4 per cent kill rate, 12th best in the 22-team WHL after Saturday’s games. They did improve their own power-play percentage, scoring on one of their three chances Saturday, but still rank last in the league with just six goals in 59 chances (10.2 per cent).
Tied 2-2, the Rockets started the third period on a 5-on-3 advantage and eventually made the Cougars pay while they were still one skater short. Topping was fed in the slot by linemate Mattson and got away a shot in tight quarters to beat Gauthier. But for the second time in the game the Cougars found a way to tie it.
Schoettler led the rush and pushed the puck over the blueline for Vladislav Mikhalchuk. He fought off a check along the left wing boards and slid the puck back to Schoettler, who scored from the slot. It was the third of the season for the Cougar defenceman, all three against the Rockets.
The Cougars dominated the puck in third period, outshooting the Rockets 14-4, but couldn’t score after Schoettler found the net.
“We have to play 60 minutes like that,” said Matvichuk. “We’re seeing glimpses but we have to find a way to be a 60-minute hockey team. When we play the way we should and have the determination we should, we’re pretty good.”
Maser opened the scoring late in the opening period, banging in the rebound of a Mikhalchuk shot. It was Maser’s second goal in as many games since returning from a four-game suspension.
The Rockets jumped ahead 2-1 before the nine-minute mark of the second period. Gardiner got down on one knee to one-time a shot from the face-off circle on a power-play setup with 1:25 gone in the period. Then at 8:53, Finnish defenceman Thomson gained the puck at his own blueline and scored a beauty, deftly avoiding the stick-check attempts of Mikhalchuk and Jack Sander before dragging the puck across the crease to tuck it in behind Gauthier.
Less than two minutes later, with the Cougars on the power play, Ethan Browne took a shot that hit goalie Roman Basran and kicked up high in the crease, where Leppard was waiting and he batted in out of the air and in for his third of the season to tie it.
Each team had 33 shots. Thomson nailed the goalpost in OT before Foote scored.
For the second game, Matej Toman took the place of top-line centre Ilijah Colina, who sustained an-upper-body injury Wednesday in the game against Tri-City and did not make the trip.
The Cougars’ next game is tonight at CN Centre when they take on the Brandon Wheat Kings. The pre-Halloween game starts at 6:30 p.m., a half-hour earlier than normal, to give kids a chance to do their rounds of trick or treat candy collecting in the concourse.
