The Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants hit the ice at CN Centre on Saturday night in the second game of their weekend doubleheader. The Cougars won Friday night's game and were looking to sweep the Giants to keep their playoff hopes alive. With the Cougars sitting only 7 points back of the Seattle Thunderbirds for the final wildcard playoff spot every point could mean the difference between making the post season or cleaning out your lockers.
Friday night's hat trick hero Josh Maser got the scoring started for the Cougars potting his 29th of the season 6:33 into the first period. A lttle under three minutes later Filip Koffer scored his 9th of the season at 9:14 into the first frame. Jack Sander made it 3-0 for the Cats scoring his 4th of the season 4:24 into the second period. The Giants were not going down without a fight and scored three unanswered goals with Justin Sourdif scoring his 26th of the season 12:55 into the second and Bowen Byram scoring his 13th of the season with 3 seconds left in the middle frame. Bowen Byram's second of the game and 14th of the year tied the game at three with 1:25 left in the third to send it to overtime. Cougars defenceman Cole Moberg played overtime hero potting his 13th of the season to give the Cats the 4-3 OT win and the weekend sweep over their division rivals.
The Cats started Taylor Gauthier in net and he turned aside 40 of the 43 shots he faced. Drew Sim started in net for the Giants and turned aside 26 of the 29 shots he faced.
Attendance for the game was 2923.
The win gives Prince George a record of 20-34-4-4 good enough for 48 points. The Thudnerbirds were also in action on Saturday night and defeated the Everett Silvertips by a score of 5-2 meaning the Cougars did not gain any ground and still sit 7 points back as they head out on the road for their final six games to close out the regular season.
