It was worst-versus-first scenario that presented itself Friday night on the ice at CN Centre.
Try telling that to the bottom-feeding Prince Albert Raiders.
They gave the Prince George Cougars all they could handle until the late stages, when the Cougars finally flexed their first-place muscles and shrugged off their pesky opponents.
Hanging on to a one-goal lead against what stacks up in the standings as worst team in the Western Hockey League, the Cougars' snipers Jesse Gabrielle and Colby McAuley put it out of the reach of the visitors from Saskatchewan when they scored third-period goals to lift the Cats to a 4-2 victory.
Gabrielle's team-leading 11th goal of the season, 11:41 into the third, ignited a partisan crowd of 5,272 and McAuley got in act as well with his eighth at the 15:57 mark. The Raiders followed up with a goal from Cavin Leth off a slapshot blast from the face-off circle but it was too little too late. The Cats had it in the bag.
Prince Albert (5-16-1-0) came into Prince George at the tail-end of a five-game roadtrip having lost all of the previous four. They started the game 23 points behind the league-leading Cougars (now 17-4-2-0) and at first it looked like a blowout in the making.
But the Raiders, thinking about that long bus ride home, showed they wanted to end their trip on a positive note. Down 2-1 in the third period they came oh-so-close to tying it a few times in the first half of the third period but either missed the net or shot into the equipment of goalie Ty Edmonds.
In the end, they could not contend with the Cougars' top line with Jared Bethune centring Brad Morrison and Gabrielle, the most dangerous Cougar of the night.
After being turned away at least a half-dozen times by some dazzling goaltending work from Nicholas Sanders, Gabrielle finally got his way.
Morrison did most of the work, forcing a turnover at the line, then beating his man in the slot before he directed a perfect backhand pass that Gabrielle slapped into the open net.
McAuley's goal was set up perfectly by linemate Josh Curtis but it took a long time for the Cougars to get to that point where they could relax a little bit.
As bad as their record is this season, goaltending has been a strong point for the Raiders and Sanders was the only reason it remained a 1-0 game in the opening frame. He made four outrageous saves in the period, first denying Colby McAuley at the end of the Cougars' first power play, then taking away sure-goals from Jansen Harkins, Bethune, and Kody McDonald.
A gift pass out of the corner from Raiders defenceman Loch Morrison landed right on the stick blade of Bethune and he skated wide of the net and found the net with a sweeping backhander to open the scoring before the game was five minutes old.
In the other crease, Edmonds wasn't all that busy in the first period but was called upon to make two standup saves on dangerous low shots from Luke Coleman.
McDonald connected on a one-timer pass from Tate Olson while playing the point on a Cougars' power play to increase the lead to 2-0. The Raiders couldn't seem to catch a break. Not long after McDonald's goal, Tim Vanstone took a shot from close range that snuck through under the arm of Edwards and came out behind the goalie but the puck fluttered just wide of the net.
The Raiders took advantage of back-to-back power plays to apply great pressure in the Cougars' end midway through the second period but none of their shot lit the light. They had a two-man advantage for an 84-second stretch and peppered Edmonds with six shots, holding the puck in the Cats' end all that time. Despite the shooting-gallery efforts of pointman Brendan Guhle, a 19-year-old sure-fire NHL prospect drafted in the second round in 2015 by the Buffalo Sabres, they were unable to connect against the league's second-ranked penalty killing team.
Aided by all those penalties, the Raiders were the better team by a wide margin in the second period, outshooting the Cats 16-8 and they finally got what they were after 17:40 into the period. The play started along the right wing boards with former Cougar Adam Kadlec pressuring the Cougars. Cameron Reagan picked up the puck in a crowd and fired it in the direction of the goal and his shot deflected off teammate Parker Kelly and through Edmonds' legs.
The Cougars host the high-flying Regina Pats Tuesday night at CN Centre.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Raiders announced right after the game they've traded Guhle to the Cougars in exchange for 17-year-old defenceman Max Martin, 18-year-old left winger Kolby Johnson, the Cougars first-round bantam pick in 2018 and their third-round pick in 2019... Fuelled by a $20,000 donation from the Northland Auto Group, the Cougars' 50-50 pot swelled to a record $100,366 and one lucky fan went home with half that amount, $50,183. Proceeds will be donated to the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation to provide medical equipment for University Hospital of Northern B.C... Over the past two years the 50-50 raffles have raised more than $1 million for the Cougars Foundation... The Cougars were sporting smart-looking black jerseys with pink lettering and trim as part of their Pink In the Rink promotion to support the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.
