For one period, the Prince George Cougars looked like they were on par with the top cats of the Western Hockey League.
Too bad for the Cougars, however, the Medicine Hat Tigers flexed their muscles in those other two periods, handing the Cougars a 6-1 loss Tuesday at CN Centre, their most lopsided defeat on home ice this season.
"That might have been our best period of the year, we got a lot of chances but didn't cash in," said Cougars head coach Mark Holick.
"When you throw 40 pucks at their net you should get more than one. We had a couple breakdowns and we didn't get the timely stop when we needed it. The backbreaker was that third goal."
The Tigers (14-3-3-0) scored five unanswered goals, four which came in the third period, to improve their hold on first place in the Eastern Conference. The loss dropped the Cougars' record to 8-12-1-3.
Miles Koules scored two goals. His gamewinner in the first period restored the lead for Medicine Hat, catching Brett Zarowny off-guard with a shot through the legs from the face-off circle along the ice that should have stopped. Vancouver Canucks prospect Hunter Shinkaruk helped set up the Tigers' first goal 5:39 into the game, one-timing a centring pass from Curtis Valk. That left a rebound in the slot for Markus Eisenschmid, an import from Germany, who ripped it past Zarowny.
In the third period, Tigers defenceman Matt Staples fired a wrist shot in high over Zarowny's glove to make it a 3-1 count. Cole Sanford collected his 13th of the season midway through the period, right after after the Cougars had killed off a penalty. Steven Owre, a 17-year-old from Rocklin, Calif., and Koules, with his second of the night while shorthanded, completed the scoring. The Cougars have now surrendered a league-worst eight shorthanded goals in 24 games.
Todd Fiddler was the only Cougar shooter to beat Tigers goalie Daniel Wapple, at 11:40 of the first, after he got free on a breakaway by chipping the puck past Tigers defenceman Tommy Vannelli. Fiddler managed to corral a rolling puck used a backhand deke to score his sixth of the season and fourth since joining the Cougars in a trade last week from Moose Jaw Warriors.
After a nervous first period, the Cougars looked a lot more comfortable in the middle frame. They started throwing their weight around, stood the Tigers up at the blueline, blocked shots and outchanced them by a wide margin. If it wasn't for Wapple, the Cats easily could have been a couple goals ahead at the second intermission, instead of trailing 2-1.
The 18-year-old goalie from Saskatoon was a busy man as the Cougars outshot the Tigers 16-8 in Period 2. Wapple guessed right when Tyson Witala cut in on a breakaway, following the Cougar winger as he tried to tuck it in on the backhand side. Wapple was in perfect position to break up a 2-on-1 with Tyler Mrkonjic on his doorstep, set up by Zach Pochiro.
Zarowny bailed his team out with a stop on Logan McVeigh midway through the second and again in the third period when the Cougars got sloppy on the power play, an all-too-common occurrence this season.
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars defenceman Joseph Carvalho left the game late in the second period with a suspected broken jaw after he went down to block a shot...The Cougar scratches were D Marc McNulty (leg injury), LW Brett Roultson (knee), LW Jari Erricson (concussion), LW Carson Bolduc (healthy) and Tanner Lishchynsky (healthy). Medicine Hat was without Washington Capitals draft pick D Tyler Lewington (neck injury), D Scott Allen (healthy), RW Alex Mowbray (healthy) and LW Blake Penner (healthy), ... The Cougars will hit the road for their next five games. They play Friday in Spokane and Saturday in Everett, then visit Alberta the following weekend.
