Whoever found the defibrillator that zapped the Prince George Cougars back to life, the Cougars are offering a reward.
They needed a late-game zap of adrenaline to prevent the Kelowna Rockets from stealing the show Wednesday night at CN Centre.
Josh Maser was the hero for the Cougars with just six seconds left in overtime. He got his stick on a perfectly-timed shot-pass from Jackson Leppard and used that piece of composite material to deflect the puck in past goalie Roman Basran for a 4-3 win.
The Cougars scored the tying goal with just 16.3 seconds left in regulation time, when Vladislav Mikhalchuk connected for the deflection of Cole Moberg's shot from the point.
It was a wild finish to an exciting game that drew just 2,205 onlookers, the third-lowest crowd count of the season at CN Centre.
Having tied the game in the opening minute of the third period when Lane Zablocki put a close-range shot in off the stick of goalie Taylor Gauthier on a 2-on-1 chance, the Rockets took advantage of some sloppy puckhandling behind the net from Gauthier to score the go-ahead goal while killing a penalty.
Leif Mattson was the aggressor on the forecheck and Gauthier tried to get rid of the puck while standing on the goal-line but put it off the goalpost. Cougars defenceman Joel Lakusta was unable to clear it out of the danger zone and Kyle Topping had nothing but net showing for his ninth goal of the season. That came with about eight minutes left to play.
As it turned out, that was plenty of time for the Cougars (9-8-1-2, second place), who moved four points ahead of the Rockets (8-12-1-0, fourth place) in the WHL B.C. Division standings.
The Rockets achieved liftoff in a conventional hockey way, scoring the game's first goal on a rebound. Liam Kindree chipped the puck ahead to right winger Mattson, who let fly a slapper, and the puck kicked out to a waiting Erik Gardiner in the slot and he batted it in for his fourth of the season. That came just 3:20 into the game.
The Cougars got that one back just 36 seconds into the second period. Moberg picked a good time to go deep into the corner after a face-off win in the Kelowna end. The second-year defenceman saw a sliver of net while standing close to the goal-line and banked the puck in off the skate of goalie Basran. For Moberg, it was his sixth goal this season. The 18-year-old from North Vancouver has four goals and six assists in his last eight games and ranks second in team scoring with 14 points.
Midway through a dominant period for the Cougars, while on their first power play of the game, 17-year-old Czech import Matej Toman took a pass in the face-off circle and let go a wrist shot that found the mesh to put the Cougars up 2-1.
It marked the sixth-straight game the Cats have connected on their power play, which ranked as the worst in the league for the first two months of the season.
Most of the action in the middle frame was in the Kelowna end and they kept their coverage tight in their own zone. Gauthier had only a couple of tough saves to make. The Cougars kept their feet moving and forcing the play and were rewarded with quality chances. Basran had to be sharp to keep Lakusta's shorthanded deflection from going in. Not long after Toman scored, Libor Zabransky was forced to hook Mikhalchuk to deny the Belarusian on a breakaway.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars host the Kamloops Blazers in a weekend set at CN Centre Saturday night and Sunday afternoon. The Rockets play Friday in Red Deer and Saturday in Edmonton... NHL Central Scouting released its Players To Watch List and five players dressed for Wednesday's game are on it, including Gauthier (B prospect, second- or third-round draft candidate), Nolan Foote (A prospect, first-round candidate). Rockets defencemen Kaedan Korcjak and Lassi Thomson (both B prospects) and Basran (C prospect, fourth-seventh round) also made the list... Rockets head coach Adam Foote now sports a 4-2-1-0 record since he took over the team. He took over from Jason Smith Oct. 23 when the Rockets were struggling with a 4-10 start.... Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk, now in his third season, is the longest-tenured coach in the B.C. Division... The Cougars are one of the youngest teams in the WHL, averaging 17.88 years.
