Brett Zarowny was the reason the Prince George Cougars were still in the hunt for victory Saturday night in Everett, and Troy Bourque provided the answer as to what it would take to knock off the top team in the WHL's Western Conference.
Zarowny and his goaltending antics single-handedly saved the Cougars from being down by a goal or two by the time Bourke took the puck down the right wing, deked his way through three Everett Silvertip defenders and, with 4:19 left to play, roofed a shot into the net behind Austin Lotz.
It stood up as the gamewinner in a 3-1 Cougars' win.
The win snapped a two-game losing streak for the Cougars (9-13-1-3). Chase Witala scored twice for the Cougars, including an empty-netter, which left the Prince George native with a team-leading 14 goals.
The Silvertips (15-4-4-0) began the game with the best record in the West and lived up to that reputation with a frenzied attack on Zarowny in the early going, building a 6-0 edge in shots, three of which forced the 18-year-old goalie to make difficult saves.
"They came out really hard the first period there and created a couple opportunities and we were able to weather the storm," said Cougars assistant coach Jason Becker. "We had [Zarowny] kicking tonight and he made some big saves to keep it 0-0 and that told the guys he was ready and gave them some confidence in front of him. The difference with Brett tonight was he was just swallowing pucks and not allowing any loose rebounds."
Everett outshot the Cougars 15-3 in the opening period and 35-17 in the game, but the Cougars struck first. Alex Forsberg fed Witala, who buried a shot through the legs of Lotz, 7:09 into the second period. Joshua Winquist got that one back for the Silvertips on the power play at 11:42 of the second. Everett started the third period with five unanswered shots but Zarowny didn't flinch and it remained tied until Bourke saw the light for his 10th goal this season.
"He had two d-men in front of him and backchecker on him and he just cut to the middle between all three of them and was able to evade the goalie and make a shot into a yawning cage -- it was an NHL-type goal," said Becker.
"We were in that position [Friday] against Spokane and it went the other way for us and tonight the guys beared down and stayed with them all the way and got that go-ahead goal and were able to lock it down."
Friday night in Spokane, the Cougars outchanced the Chiefs but lost the first game of their trip 5-2. The teams were tied 2-2 with eight minutes left in regulation time when the Chiefs struck for two goals 58 seconds apart. Jason Fram and WHL scoring leader Mitch Holmberg, who finished with two goals and two assists. Holmberg's third-period goal came while shorthanded, the ninth shorthanded goal surrendered by the Cats this season.
n The Cougars lost right winger David Soltes to a leg injury in the second period. The 18-year-old Slovakian import missed 12 games with a knee injury to the same leg earlier in the season. Cougar defenceman Joseph Carvalho underwent surgery to repair a broken jaw Friday. The 18-year-old from Burnaby was injured while blocking a shot during Tuesday's game at CN Centre against Medicine Hat.
The Cougars play in Calgary on Thursday.
