It was only fitting that Craig Armstrong got one more crack at the Vancouver Giants’ net.
Only this time, there was no goalie standing in the way.
His empty-netter put the finishing touches on a remarkable night for the Prince George Cougars’ sophomore centre who scored all four goals for his team in a 4-1 victory over the Giants Monday night at the WHL hub in Kamloops.
Armstrong hustled hard for that last one, putting on a burst of energy to clear the zone with the Giants applying the pressure. The puck came to Riley Heidt, who could have taken the shot, but chose to shovel it to Armstrong and he made it count.
At that point Armstrong already had a natural hat trick in the bag, scoring the first three goals of the game to help stake the Cougars to back-to-back regulation wins over the Giants. They improved to 3-2-1-1 and crept to within two points of the second-place Giants (5-3-0-0) in the B.C. Division standings.
Taylor Gauthier was nearly unbeatable in his first game back between the pipes, making 37 saves for his first win of the season.
Armstrong’s first of the night, 13 minutes in, came after a perfect no-look feed from rookie winger Kyren Gronick. He got the puck along the right wing boards just inside the blueline and spun off a hard backhand pass that landed right on Armstrong’s stick blade and he buried a slot shot in behind Trent Miner.
Then in the second period with 5:26 gone, Armstrong sped up the left wing and Jack Sander spotted him the puck and the speedy Armstrong beat Mazden Leslie to the outside and went 5-hole for his second goal.
Armstrong completed his hat trick near the tail end of a Cougar power play when he got his stick on Hudson Thornton’s low shot from the point and with Gronick standing in front of the crease blocking Miner’s view the puck slid through his legs just before the halfway mark in the game.
The 17-year-old Armstrong, a native of Airdrie, Alta., picked ninth overall by the Cougars in the 2018 draft, is now just one point shy of his 62-game rookie season total. He was held to just one goal in 2019-20. He was suspended for one game last week and has five goals in two games since then.
“I think to start, it’s his confidence in playing a regular role in the league,” said Cougars associate coach Jason Smith. “By the end of last year he’d established himself as somebody who can play different roles and started to earn more icetime. He’s put in work to be a little quicker, a little stronger and when you’re quicker and stronger you can feel confident that you’re going to go out there and be able to be in the battle and be prepared to compete. You’re going to give yourself an opportunity to have success.
“Their line (Armstrong-Gronick and Heidt), for three really young guys, they’re bringing lots of positive energy to our group and playing very successful games so far.”
Heidt, the Cougars’ second-overall pick in the 2020 WHL draft, posted his first multipoint night with two assists. The five-foot-nine, 178 pound native of Saskatoon dominated the Giants in the face-off circle, winning 12 of 14 draws as the third star of the game.
Tyler Brennan drew the previous three starts in net last week for Prince George before he leaves for the IIHF U18 world championship in Texas and after a there was no rust showing in Gauthier. He was locked in from opening puck drop, covering his angles and not allowing rebounds and bailed his teammates out numerous times and he was especially busy as the game progressed when his teammates started turning the puck over. Gauthier stopped all 16 Vancouver shots in the second period and gave the Cougars what they needed in the third period as they were outshot 13-3 in the final 20 minutes.
The Giants finally solved the 20-year-old netminder, 3:24 into the third period. Justin Sourdif sprung Tristan Nielsen on a left wing rush and Nielsen left defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk in his tracks and went to the net, finishing with a high backhander in behind Gauthier.
The Cougars will be back on the ice in Kamloops Wednesday to play the first-place Kamloops Blazers. Game time is 7 p.m. The Cats will then travel to Kelowna to face the Victoria Royals on Friday and they’re scheduled to meet the Kelowna Rockets on Saturday.
