One night after they spoiled the Prince George Cougars' perfect season, the Everett Silvertips offered convincing proof their dominance of the Cougars was not limited to just one game.
They blasted the Cougars 6-3 on Wednesday, handing the Cats their second loss of the 2016-17 campaign after eight straight wins.
Patrick Bajkov led the way offensively for the Silvertips with a goal and two assists as his team laid waste to what ranks as the best start in the Cougars' 23-year Prince George WHL history.
Once again, as they were in Tuesday's 4-0 win over the Cats, the Silvertips were opportunistic opponents, exposing weaknesses the Cougars had not shown in their first eight games.
The Cats came into the game with the league's best penalty-kill, having allowed opponents just one power-play goal in 42 chances the previous nine games, a 97.6 per cent efficiency rate. The Silvertips solved that dilemma, converting three of their seven chances while skating with the extra man.
Everett took control of the game with two goals in rapid succession early in the second period for a commanding three-goal lead. With Cougars captain Sam Ruopp off for roughing, Graham Miller took a pass at the top of face-off circle and beat Nick McBride with a wrist shot at the 1:38 mark. Then at 2:51 of the second, with the teams at even strength, Riley Sutter (the son of former NHL'er Ron), accepted a perfect behind-the-net feed from Sean Richards for his second goal of the game.
That was it for McBride, having allowed five goals on 13 shots in 22:51 of game action - replaced in the Cougar net by Ty Edmonds. By that time the hole was far deep for the Cougars to crawl out of, trying to score against the stingiest defence in the WHL.
Backed by goalie Carter Hart, a second-round Philadelphia Flyers pick in 2016, the Silvertips have now allowed just 16 goals in eight games, a 2.00 goals-against average. They burned the Cougars with their transition game in both games at CN Centre, giving the Cougars lots to think about as they boarded the bus Wednesday night.
Still smarting from the pasting the Silvertips handed out Tuesday night, the Cougars fell into some quicksand early and trailed 2-0 before the game was eight minutes old. Cats defenceman Tate Olson put a clearing pass deep in his own end right on the stick blade of Bajkov, who went wide with the puck on McBride and dumped it into the net. Less than a minute later, with Cats forward Justin Almeida off for high-sticking, Riley Sutter took a pass through the crease and scored while standing behind the goal line.
The Cougars answered right away with goals nine seconds apart. Jansen Harkins showed his skill as a setup man, feeding inmate Brogan O'Brien a perfect pass in the slot for an easy tap-in, the first of the season for the 19-year-old Prince George native. Before that goal was announced to the CN Centre crowd of 2,534, Aaron Boyd took possession off the face-off and sped into Everett territory, lifting a high snapper in off the upper mesh.
The Silvertips retook the lead 15:54 into the game when pointman Kevin Davis cashed in another power-play chance with a screened wrist shot.
Down 5-2, the Cougars connected on their third power-play of the game 15:27 into the second period when Ruopp joined the rush and scored his first of the season with a shot from a wide angle that went in off Hart's leg pad. But 44 seconds later, the Silvertips (6-1-1-0) restored their three-goal lead as Brett Kemp tipped one past Edmonds.
Edmonds played well in relief, blocking 13 of 14 shots, including a scintillating glove save to deny Bajkov while Everett was killing a penalty late in the game.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars play Friday in Seattle against the Thunderbirds and Saturday in Kennewick, Wash., where they will face the Tri-City Americans... The Kamloops Blazers on Wednesday picked up former Cougars defenceman Shaun Dosanjh on waivers. The 20-year-old from Richmomd has played a total of 128 WHL games with the Cougars and Vancouver Giants... Edmonds, the goalie of record on Tuesday, ranks second in career wins among Cougar goalies with 74. The 20-year-old from Winnipeg needs just 22 more to eclipse Scott Myers on the all-time list. Myers had 95 wins from 1996-2000.
