Taylor Gauthier was feeling no love from his Prince George Cougar teammates.
It was not their intent, but they treated him like wet blanket and hung him out to dry.
Before the Cougars snapped out of their funk, well into the second period, the Victoria Royals had a 4-0 lead.
Dante Hannoun and Igor Martynov each scored a pair of goals in what ended up a 5-1 victory Saturday in front of a CN Centre crowd of 3,658. Tanner Sidaway had the other Royals’ offering. Scott Walford picked up a pair of assists. Ilijah Colina scored the only Cougars’ goal of the night.
It marked the second time this season the Cougars (10-14-12) have lost four straight and their latest dropped into fifth place in the B.C. Division standings. The Royals (13-9-0-0) ended a three-game slide and held on to second place in the B.C. Division. Victoria is tied in points with the third-place Kelowna Rockets, who lost 5-4 in overtime Saturday to Saskatoon.
The first of the night for the Royals came on their first power play of the game for Hannoun, the notorious Cougar-killer. He gained the puck in the right face-off circle and while facing three Cougar defenders in front of him unleashed a big-league wrister that sailed high over Gauthier’s glove.
Then it was Martynov’s turn. The 19-year-old from Krasnoye, Belarus was sprung into the clear on a breakaway pass Walford made while standing just outside the Victoria goal crease. Gauthier bit on Martynov’s backhand-forehand deke for a 2-0 lead at the 6:18 mark.
That sense of déjà-vu came over the Cougars a few minutes later when Martynov took off again on a breakaway and with a similar move tucked it into the net.
The fourth goal came near the end of the period when Tanner Sidaway carried the puck in on a 1-on-2. Cougars defenceman Rhett Rhinehart forced him wide but the Royals winger fired off a high wrister that fooled Gauthier.
“We just weren’t very good, we didn’t play the way we needed to and they beat us,” said Cougars head coach Richard Matvichuk. “It’s not our systems, it’s not the way we play. I could probably count on less than one hand how many breakaways we’ve given up all year long and to let guys get behind us and do things like that, that’s crazy and something we’ve got to look at.”
Colina kept the Cougars’ faint comeback hopes alive eight minutes into the second period with a deflection in front of Brock Gould after Ryan Schoettler put up his glove to block a clearing attempt at the blueline. But an overenthusiastic charge from Cougars forward Reid Perepeluk resulted in the second penalty of the game and Hannoun made them pay with a shot from the left side of the slot that found the net behind a screened Gauthier. It was the third goal and 11th point in the last 11 games Hannoun has played against Prince George dating back to last season.
The Royals, knowing they had 17-year-old rookie Gould in goal for only his fourth WHL game, played like overprotective parents in front of him. They held a wide edge in puck possession, played a physical game when they needed to, and had their sticks and bodies in the way on the rare occasions when the Cougars got set up in the offensive end.
Gould was called into service when 20-year-old goalie Griffen Outhouse, a former Cariboo Cougar midget, hurt his shoulder Wednesday in the Royals’ 2-1 loss at home to Saskatoon.
“They play the d-zone really compressed, which is called the swarm, and they even get four guys into a pile and kind of leave the empty ice up top and we knew it was coming,” said Matvichuk.
“The way it got away was the chances we gave. Even the first power-play goal, it’s a 1-on-3 and we let (Hannoun) have the blueline and stick on puck, they can’t get the blueline for one, and our defencemen have got to play a better gap. Then when they get behind us, those were two great moves by (Martynov) and it’s 3-0.”
The same teams will meet again today at 2 p.m. at CN Centre. It’s the Cougars’ last home game of 2018 and fans are being asked to bring donations of wrapped warm winter clothing for the Salvation Army to distribute to those in need. The gifts can for the Un-Teddy Bear Toss can be thrown onto the ice after the Cougars score their first goal.
Saturday’s WHL summary
Royals 5 at Cougars 1
First Period
1. Victoria, Hannoun 8, 4:52 (pp)
2. Victoria, Martynov 2 (Walford, Schultz) 6:18
3. Victoria, Martynov 3 (Schultz) 13:46
4. Victoria, Sidaway 2 (Gulka) 18:17
Penalty – Moberg PG (tripping) 3:37.
Second Period
5. Prince George, Colina 4 (Schoettler) 8:28
6. Victoria, Hannoun 9 (Walford, Kambeitz) 13:56 (pp)
Penalties – Walford VIC (high-sticking) 2:13, Walford VIC (holding) 5:50, Perepeluk PG (charging) 12:36.
Third Period
Penalties – Kohner PG (high-sticking) 6:38, Jerome VIC (interference) 17:00, Walford VIC (roughing), Mikhalchuk PG (cross-checking, roughing) 18:50.
Shots on goal by
Victoria 13 6 5 -26
Prince George5 11 3 -19
Goal – Victoria, Gould (W,2-2-0-0); Prince George, Gauthier (L,6-10-1-1).
Power plays – VIC: 2-4; PG: 0-3.
Referees – Duncan Brow, Steve Papp; Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Anthony Maletta.
Attendance – 3,658.
Scratches – Victoria: G Griffen Outhouse (shoulder injury, indefinite), D Ralph Jarratt (lower body, 2-3 weeks), LW Tyus Gent (healthy), C Tyler Lees (healthy); Prince George: D Cameron MacPhee (shoulder injury, indefinite), D Tyson Phare (lower body, week-to-week), C Connor Bowie (healthy), LW Kjell Kjemhus (healthy).
