As badly as they've performed this month, losing seven of their last nine games, the underachieving Prince George Cougars are not losing sight of one important fact.
They're still in first place in the ultra-competitive B.C. Division and are within striking distance of top spot in the Western Hockey League's Western Conference.
The Cougars are trying to get their hands on the first banner in the Prince George franchise history but are coming dangerously close to having that season-long ambition slip away. They have the Kamloops Blazers breathing down their neck and are now just one point ahead of the closest geographic rivals.
The latest loss for the Cats came on home ice Tuesday at CN Centre when they fell 3-2 in a shootout to the Red Deer Rebels. Brandon Hagel scored the only goal of the shootout to end the Rebels' eight-game losing streak. It was the third straight defeat for the Cougars (39-19-3-2), the only time this season they've dropped three games in a row, and the Blazers, winners of four of their last five games, are smelling blood. The Blazers and Cougars each have 10 games left and will play each other four more times.
"When we get our mojo back, we'll be alright," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. "Every good team goes through adversity and this is one of those times, so it adds character for our guys and I don't mind it. It makes you a stronger group. The last thing we want to do is get everything locked up and have a little lull and go into the playoffs thinking we're better than we are.
"I've never seen a championship team not go through adversity. We feel we have a special thing here and a little adversity, if it doesn't kill you, will make you stronger."
The team's slump is reminding Cougar fans of last season, when they went into a post-Christmas nosedive and were swept by the Seattle Thunderbirds in the first round of playoffs. At the time, they had a 20-10-1-1 record as part of the CHL honourable mention list, then went 16-21-2-1 the rest of the season.
This latest funk scratched the Cats off the CHL list this week for the first time all season, but it's nowhere near as severe as it was a year ago. Since the Christmas break the Cougars have won 11 games, lost 12, and have gained single points in one overtime loss and two shootout losses. They're one point behind the conference-leading Everett Silvertips and are tied in points (81) for second in the west with Seattle. Everett holds four games in hand over the Cougars while Seattle has played two fewer games than Prince George.
"We haven't lost more than two games in a row, other than (Tuesday night) and there's no panic," said Cougars general manager Todd Harkins. "We're five wins away from tying our record (for wins in a season) in 23 years in Prince George and I don't know what people want from us other than we're just going to continue to try to win and have the most wins ever.
"We had a pretty good January (9-4-1-0) but the schedule was pretty tough on us with a lot of travel. Getting home here, the guys have bumps and bruises and they're a little bit tired and some guys are out of the lineup. With the changes we've made, guys are just trying to find their identity and it's a combination of all that together that's put us in this situation.
"We've put this team together that has a chance to win a divisional and Western Conference banner. That's something we've never been able to accomplish here in 23 years and that's an exciting thing for us and our fans. This is not the time to get upset, this is the time to support the kids. I just want to see them support each other on the ice and play as a unit of five instead of a unit of two or three or four and play consistent hockey. They're not scoring right now so guys are trying to do too much themselves."
The second period remains a sore spot for the Cougars. In their last eight games, opponents have outscored them in the middle frame a combined 8-3. The Cougars showed signs of working well as a unit through much of Tuesday's game. When Jansen Harkins went down with an eye injury after getting sandwiched between two Rebels, Brogan O'Brien took over at centre with the two Europeans - Radovan Bondra and Nikita Popugaev on the wings to form what looked like a dangerous combination. Bondra got the first goal, picking up a rebound from Popugaev and they generated more than handful of golden scoring opportunities throughout the game.
With seven defencemen dressed, the Cougars were down to just 10 forwards after they lost Harkins and all three lines had moments of brilliance. But aside from Kody McDonald finishing off a three-way pass play Aaron Boyd and Brad Morrison in the second period, the Cougars were unable to fill the net, despite outshooting the Rebels 36-24.
He didn't have the numbers to do it Tuesday but Matvichuk continues to roll four forward lines most nights and while some of the fans don't like it, the Cougars will continue to do so.
"The approach we've taken as a staff this year is to try to save our legs for the playoffs," said Todd Harkins. "By having depth and having four lines and playing some of the kids, we've been able to save our legs and when we do have injuries kids can step in and play and they're nervous and making mistake after mistake because they've only played four or five games in the year.
"My first year here (2014-15), we were running two lines and we ran out of gas in the playoffs against Victoria and it was the same thing last year."
Ty Edmonds is still seeking his 96th career win in goal, which would put him all alone among Prince George Cougar goalies, and he as denied of that milestone for the sixth time on Tuesday. The 20-year-old hasn't won since Jan. 29 when he beat the Oil Kings 3-1 in Edmonton. The Oil Kings will be in Prince George to face the Cougars Friday and Saturday at CN Centre.
Nick McBride had his six-game win streak stopped last week in Kelowna and has proven his worth backing up Edmonds. While it's been quite some time since their goaltending has singlehandedly won them a game, the Cougars aren't pinning the blame for their latest struggles on their two puckstoppers, knowing they're pushing each other to excel.
The Cougars went scoreless in five manpower advantages against Red Deer and they continue to work in practice to address their shortcomings with what ranks as the league's third-worst power-play (15.8 per cent success rate). Their penalty-kill (84.1 per cent) is second in efficiency only to Everett's. The Rebels scored on one of their five opportunities, while on a two-man advantage when Matvichuk argued O'Brien's goaltender interference call after he got cross-checked into goalie Lasse Petersen.
"I'll take blame for the 5-on-3 goal, that's me with the frustration I had with the referees," said Matvichuk. "I thought our guys did a real good job killing penalties, we were aggressive and on our power play I thought we moved the puck real well. We're going to get into a shooting-first mentality here and we have guys who can shoot the puck properly, we just have to get guys in front of the net and get to the ugly areas to score goals."
On the injury front, Jansen Harkins' vision problems have cleared up and he'll be ready to face the Oil Kings Friday. Defenceman Brendan Guhle remains out of the lineup with an ankle sprain and is listed as week-to-week. Winger Tanner Wishnowski, 20, acquired at the trade deadline from Spokane for an eight-round pick, started skating with the Cougars for the first time on Tuesday. He's been out with a concussion since Nov. 19 and could be ready to return within the next couple weeks.
