Nobody said it was going to be easy.
And nobody knew that better than Chase Witala.
The Prince George Cougars winger bailed his team out in a big way Friday night in an old-fashioned shootout at the CN Centre corral. Witala was the hero in a 6-5 shootout win over the Vancouver Giants, rifling a high shot into the Giants net for the deciding margin of victory to go with his two third-period goals that gave the Cats a chance.
Needing one goal to tie it, the Cougars went with six attackers, pulling goalie Ty Edmonds to the bench with 1:43 left, and the gamble paid off. Two seconds after the timeout, Jordan Tkatch won the draw deep in the Giants end and the puck went right to Witala, whose quick shot from the left wing beat Payton Lee to force overtime.
Cats defenceman Marc McNulty came close to ending it 27 seconds into overtime with a point-blank shot that went off the goalpost.
In the ensuing shootout, Alex Forsberg put the Cats ahead after Cain Franson had scored on Edmonds. Edmonds then made a save on Carter Popoff and Witala followed that up with the one that counted. The game ended when Giant shooter Brett Kulak failed to get a shot away.
The Cougars stormed Vancouver with six unanswered shots to start the third period and were rewarded with their first lead of the night four minutes in, and it came as a result of some hard work from the newest Cougar, Aaron Macklin, picked up this week in a trade from Kamloops.
Macklin stripped the puck away from the Giants in their own end and got it to Jordan Tkatch, who spotted Witala all alone in the face-off circle to put the Cats ahead 4-3.
The lead was shortlived, however, and the Giants responded with two goals 23 seconds apart.
The Cougars were 11 seconds away from killing off a lengthy 5-on-3 power play when Kulak's point shot found a seam through a screen in front of Edmonds.
Then it was Dalton Sward's turn, firing a quick snap shot from a wide angle for his third goal of the night.
But the Cougars obviously didn't let that spoil the night.
The win lifted the Cats (11-15-1-3) to within a single point of the Giants (11-11-5-1).
Missing five regulars from their lineup due to injuries, the Cougars got more bad news from the WHL office Friday when they learned captain Troy Bourke had been suspended for three games as as punishment for his knee-on-knee hit last weekend which sidelined Red Deer forward Matt Bellerive. Bourke played both games this week for Team WHL in the Subway Super Series against Russia.
Then in the warmups, in another cruel touch of fate, Cougar goalie Brett Zarowny, the designated starter, left the ice in obvious pain with an apparent groin injury. That cast Edmonds into the spotlight and it didn't take long for the Giants to strike.
Near the tail end of a Cougars penalty, just 2:17 into the game, a long point shot from Giants defenceman Arvin Atwal got through a screen and rippled the net high behind Edmonds.
Sward doubled the lead at the 9:54 mark, making the most of Joseph Carvalho's giveaway at the Giants' blueline with a shot through Edmonds' legs. It was the 10th shorthanded goal the Cats have allowed this season, by far the worst in the league. On the same power play, 13 seconds after Sward's goal, Klarc Wilson took a cross-ice pass from Brad Morrison and shot it in.
The Giants owned the puck for most of the second period, outshooting their opponents 23-10 in that middle frame, but the Cougars managed to outscore them 2-1. Jansen Harkins let go a weak backhand while standing behind the goalline and the puck took a hop off the ice and bounced off the equipment of Kulak into the net. Three minutes later, Sward picked up his second of the night, jumping on a big fat rebound left for him in the slot.
But the Cougars had an answer for that when Forsberg snared a loose puck in front of the Giants net and went wide around Lee to find a gaping net and make it 3-3. Fiddler took the original shot from the slot after a pass from Peter Kosterman, the third assist of the night for the 20-year-old defenceman.
The same teams meet again tonight. Game time is 7 p.m.
LOOSE PUCKS:
Notre Dame midget goalie Matt Kuster has been called up to replace Zarowny tonight.
Carvalho returned to the lineup Friday after missing six games with a broken jaw.
The ranks of the injured Cougars includes forwards David Soltes (knee), Jari Erricson (concussion), Zack Pochiro (concussion), and defencemen Raymond Grewal (ankle) and Tate Olson (concussion).
