Last weekend was a pointless exercise for the Prince George Cougars.
Three games on their tour of the Western Hockey League's Central Division resulted in losses to Calgary, Red Deer and Edmonton, which extended the Cougars' losing streak to a season-high seven games.
They'll try to end that slide tonight in Kamloops against a Blazer team that's won all five games so far in the season series with the Cougars.
"We have to go in and play our game, we have to get to work and play the way we should - this is another four-point game that will have a huge impact come mid-March on who will make the playoffs and who's not," said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk.
The goal-starved Cougars have scored fewer goals (105) than any other WHL team and that lack of production, averaging 2.18 goals per game, has been the bane of their existence - the most obvious reason they rank dead-last in the Western Conference with a 16-27-3-2 record.
Defensively, they stack up 12th-stingiest in a 22-team league, having allowed 156 goals for an average 3.25 per game. But if you don't have the finishers, which the Cougars certainly lack, points in the standings are tough to come by.
Only four Cougars are producing a point or better every two games. Vladislav Mikhalchuk leads the Cats in scoring with 17 goals and 18 assists for 35 points in 48 games. The other three are Josh Maser (18-10-28) defenceman Cole Moberg (9-16-25) and Ethan Browne (7-18-25).
The Cats were outscored 26-10 in those seven losses and picked up points in just two of those games, overtime defeats on home ice to Kamloops and Moose Jaw. That's dropped them further out of the playoff race with just 20 games left to try to reel in the teams ahead of them.
The Cougars (2-6-2-0 in their last 10 games) are five points behind the Blazers (19-25-3-1) for fourth place in the B.C. Division and eight points back of the Kelowna Rockets (20-24-4-1), who hold the third and final division playoff spot.
"We're getting the chances, it's just we're struggling to put the puck in the net right now," said Matvichuk. "If you're not getting chances that's one thing but we are getting the chances, so we just have to find the back of the net.
"Defensively and systems-wise I thought we've been fine and our effort's there, it's just a matter of scoring an early one or getting a bounce that we need. We're finding ways to lose right now and we have to find ways to win."
The power play continues to struggle, as it seems to every year in Cougarville. They've scored just 29 goals in 197 chances and have given up seven shorthanded goals this season. Scoring at a 14.7 per cent clip, they rank last in the WHL, continuing a trend that's plagued the Cougars. In each of the past dozen seasons their power play has ranked in the bottom third of the league. It hit rock-bottom in 2011-12, and 2016-17 and they were 21st out of 22 in 2009-10, 2102-13, and 2013-14. The last time their power play cracked the top 10 was in 2006-07 when it was ranked ninth, while Devin Setoguchi and Nick Drazenovic were playing for the team - the last time the Cougars advanced to the third round of playoffs.
"When you look back for the last many years of this organization the power play's never been high, I think it's been once in the top-15 in multiple years," said Matvichuk. "Does a lot of it come because it's easier (for opponents) to adjust on a back-to-back game basis compared to playing a different opponent all the time? We're always playing back-to-back because of our location and I'm not making excuses but that might come into play at some point."
The Cougars aren't that far out of a wild-card spot, seven points behind the Seattle Thunderbirds, but they're going to need a better power play and a run of victories to avoid missing the playoffs for the second consecutive year.
Expect Taylor Gauthier to get the start in the Cougar nets tonight. Gauthier played in Calgary and Edmonton after representing the Cougars at the CHL Top Prospects Game in Red Deer. Through 37 games in his sophomore WHL season Gauthier sports a 3.01 goals-against average, .907 save percentage and has three shutouts. He's ranked fifth among North American goalies available for the NHL draft in June.
"I thought he was really good (last weekend), he's such a competitor and we've kind of been running with him as of late and with the confidence he's getting, he's not getting tired, which is great," said Matvichuk. "He's practicing the way he should, he's putting the time in with videos and doing the right things and this is why this kid keeps getting better and better. We have to still realize he's still a young goaltender in this league at 17. He possibly has three more years in this league, hopefully only two, but if you look at two years from now, he could be really good."
Browne will be back in action tonight after missing two games with an upper-body injury. The Cougars have no other injuries to report. The Blazers will be missing D Luke Zazula (out with an upper-body injury), D Quinn Schmiemann (listed as day-to-day with a concussion sustained in collision with Cougars forward Maser Jan. 20 at CN Centre) and LW Ryley Appelt (lower body, one week).
The Cats play Saturday night in Langley against the B.C. Division-leading Vancouver Giants and will be back at home Tuesday and Wednesday to face the Giants again.
The Cougars are making plans to round up a guest coach to fill in for associate coach Steve O'Rourke, who leaves Feb. 11 to take on the head coaching duties for the B.C. men's team at the Canada Winter Games in Red Deer.
