The Kamloops Blazers rolled into CN Centre Friday night with all the swagger you might expect from the team with the best record in the WHL’s Western Conference.
On top of that, they were playing those lovable losers, the cellar-dwelling Prince George Cougars, who hadn’t won in eight games.
A mismatch on paper, no doubt, but on this night the Cougars never trailed, thanks to a gutsy all-around effort, some stellar penalty-killing and yet another goaltending clinic put on by Taylor Gauthier, who made 41 saves in a 4-3 victory.
Gauthier stopped all 15 shots he faced in the third period, including two showstoppers while the Blazers were on a four-minute power play late in the game when Cougar winger Josh Maser clipped Connor Zary’s face with a high stick. The Cougars killed it off and held the league’s best power play without a goal n six opportunities.
“I thought we put in a really good effort tonight, we’ve been playing really well lately and we just didn’t get the results,” said Gauthier. “We got a couple good bounces that we haven’t been getting lately and we did a good job of shutting them down.
“Our PK was dynamite all night. It’s been good for us all year and to see it come through in the stages like it did tonight with five minutes left, up by one with four-minute kill was really good to see. It gave us a lot of confidence and got the arena buzzing. It was a pretty good turnout tonight and it was good feeling to get the win at home.”
Gauthier robbed Logan Stankoven on a close-in shot from the slot early in Maser’s penalty and stuck out his glove to snag a blistering shot from the point from Max Martin late in the penalty.
For Martin and the Blazers, Gauthier has been especially troublesome the last two times the teams have met. He made 43 saves a week ago in Kamloops, a game the Blazers won 1-0.
Connor Bowie’s two-goal effort was also a difference-maker for the Cougars and his second of the night, a low wrister on a quick right-wing rush, 9:22 into the third period was the gamewinner.
The six-foot-three, 207-pound Bowie drew double- and triple-duty for his penalty-killing excellence and won some key face-offs that allowed the Cougars to take control of the puck and the 18-year-old from Fort St. John was rewarded with the first multi-goal night of his three-year WHL career.
“He’s had a really good coming-out party this year,” said Gauthier. “Last year he didn’t get a whole bunch of minutes but this year he’s a really key part of our penalty-kill an he fits really well n that third line. He’s a big body who gets in on the forecheck and creates chances for himself and his line as well.”
Maser, on a first period power play which ended an 0-for-17 drought for the Cougars with the man advantage, and defenceman Rhett Rhinehart, who gave the Cats a 3-2 lead late in the first period, were the other Cougar goalscorers. Orrin Centazzo, Zane Franklin and Zary scored for Kamloops.
“I thought we had a slow start, obviously they got out to the two-goal lead and we crawled back but I didn’t think we had the jump we normally have,” said Martin, 20, who began his WHL career with the Cougars four years ago and joined the Blazers in an off-season trade from the defending WHL-champion Prince Albert Raiders.
“We ran into a good goalie again, like the last time we played these guys, so we’re going to have to fix some things up for tomorrow but I think we’ll be ready to go”
The Blazers outshot the Cats 44-18. Kamloops starting goalie Rayce Ramsay was pulled from the game for the start of the second period after he allowed three goals on nine shots.
The win improved the Cougars to 5-16-0-2, while the B.C. Division-leading Blazers (15-8-0-0) dropped to second in the West after Everett beat Saskatoon 6-1 Friday.
The Cougars and Blazers meet again Saturday, starting at 7 p.m. at CN Centre.
Friday’s WHL summary
Blazers 3 at Cougars 4
First Period
1. Prince George, Maser 9 (Moberg, Browne) 10:10 (pp)
2. Prince George, Bowie 3 (Koffer, Maser) 10:43
3. Kamloops, Centazzo 13 (Franklin, Zary) 13:21
4. Kamloops, Franklin 14 (Baragano, Hughes) 18:41
5. Prince George, Rhinehart 2 (Sander, Colina) 19:27
Penalties – Pillar Kam (high-sticking) 1:03, Mikhalchuk PG (high-sticking) 3:55, Stankoven Kam (high-sticking) 9:45.
Second Period
6. Kamloops, Zary 17 (Franklin, Centazzo) 11:40
Penalties – Schoettler PG (holding) 7:19, Armstrong PG (high-sticking) 15:48.
Third period
7. Prince George, Bowie 4, 9:22
Penalties – Samson PG (tripping) 7:21, Kam bench (too many men) 11:41, Maser PG (double high-sticking) 14:26.
Shots on goal by
Kamloops 15 14 15 -44
Prince George9 5 4 -18
Goal – Kamloops, Ramsay (9-6) and, at 0:00 of second, Garand (L,13-7-0-0, 9-8); Prince George, Gauthier (W,3-13-0-2, 44-41).
Power play – Kam: 0-6; PG: 1-3.
Referees – Adam Bloski, Taylor Burzminski; Linesmen: Bick Bilko, Brad Parker.
Attendance – 2,211.
Scratches – Kamloops – LW Kyrell Sopotyk (lower body, eight weeks), RW Matthew Seminoff (healthy), C Kaeden Bankierb (healthy); Prince George – RW Reid Perepeluk (served second game of third-game suspension), RW Holden Kodak (healthy), D Joe Kennedy (lower body, day to day).
