Another game, another loss for the Prince George Cougars.
The Spokane Chiefs became the latest CN Centre visitors to pull off a weekend sweep of the Cats.
Saturday’s 3-1 win came a day after their 4-3 triumph Friday night, and it extended the Cougars’ home-ice losing streak to nine games. The Cougars have now lost 15 of their last 17 games and are rapidly losing their grip on a WHL playoff spot.
Nick McCarry scored two goals to lead the Chiefs and Carter Streek also found the net behind goalie Ty Young. Koehn Ziemmer with his 22nd goal of the season, was the only Cougar shooter to beat Chiefs goalie Mason Beaupit. The 17-year-old forward led the Cougars with nine shots on goal.
The Cougars outshot Spokane 34-30 and held a 19-6 edge in the third period.
McCarry’s first goal of the night came 15:30 into the first period on a Spokane power play. Unlike Friday’s game, in which they gave up three power-play goals, the Cougars penalty-killers earned high marks for their efforts, successfully killing four minor penalties in the rematch.
Ziemmer’s goal came on one of the three power-play chances the Cougars had and it brought them within a goal of the Chiefs, but just 67 seconds later, McCarry scored the insurance goal for Spokane.
“It was kind of the same as last night, way too many penalties,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb. “You can’t score goals when you’re in the penalty box and the flow of the game, the flow of the players sitting on the bench, it just takes everybody out of it.
“We created offence in the third period, we just didn’t score, but we’ve got to do that in the first period. You’ve got to be ready to play.”
The Cougars (19-31-2-1, seventh in Western Conference) are now just two points ahead of the Chiefs (17-31-4-1, eighth place). The good news for the Cougars is the teams close to them in the WHL standings – Victoria, Tri-City and Vancouver – all lost their games Saturday. The top eight teams in the conference make the playoffs.
The Cougars conclude their eight-game homestand next Friday and Saturday when they host the Victoria Royals. The Cats have won all seven games against the Royals this season.
