RECAP: Americans (3) @ Cougars (4) – January 31, 2025
Prince George, B.C. – The Tri-City Americans (23-19-4-1) battled back from 1-0 and 2-1 deficits Friday night but couldn’t complete their comeback after falling behind 4-2 as the Prince George Cougars (27-15-3-2) held on for a 4-3 win at the CN Centre.
The Cougars opened the scoring 10:07 into the game. Riley Heidt took a pass at the left point and skated into the faceoff circle before snapping a shot past Lukas Matecha for his 22nd of the season.
Tri-City answered back quickly to tie the game. Jackson Smith and Kale Margolis combined for a great give-and-go play in the neutral zone as Smith took the return feed and raced over the Cougars blue line.
Skating in on a two-on-one with Max Curran, Smith fired a high shot that was fought off by Josh Ravensbergen, but the rebound bounced over to Curran who backhanded it into the net for his 15th of the season, tying the game just 1:17 after Prince George took the lead.
The game remained 1-1 until the final minute of period when the Cougars took advantage of a turnover. Jake Gudelj looked to cut across the middle of the neutral zone but ran into traffic and lost the puck.
Terik Parascak came down the right wing and cut across the crease but was denied by Matecha. Aiden Foster went to the net and found the loose puck to give Prince George a 2-1 lead with 21 seconds left in the period. The Cougars led 2-1 after one with the shots 11-8 Prince George.
The Americans tied the game early in the second period. After Curran had a shot blocked in the slot, he gathered the rebound in the faceoff circle and swung a pass back to the slot for Jake Sloan who hammered a one timer past Ravensbergen. It was Sloan’s 18th of the year and sixth in his last seven games.
The game then remained 2-2 until a controversial goal by the Cougars. Borya Valis drove down the right wing with a lane to the net and Matecha went down to his knees before leaning against the post to cover the near side.
The net popped out of it pegs almost immediately, sending Matecha falling to the ice and Valis skating to the front of the net to slide the puck into the net which was off both posts and turned sideways.
The referee behind the net initially gave the no-goal signal before multiple officials convened at the penalty boxes and called the review booth.
After a few minutes delay the referee overturned the call, awarding the Cougars a 3-2 lead with 7:01 remaining in the period. They carried that lead into the intermission with the shots 21-12 Prince George.
Ben Riche extended the Cougars lead 6:16 into the third when he skated hard to the net off the rush and jammed home a rebound off a shot from Valis to put Prince George ahead 4-2.
Tri-City was able to cut into the lead four minutes later when Jaxen Adam scored his first WHL goal. Taking a pass from the goal line Adam let a hard, dragging wrist shot go from the top of the left circle that beat Ravensbergen on the blocker side. The goal came with 9:21 remaining in regulation.
The Americans went to the fourth power play of the game with 6:14 left in the game, but weren’t able to take advantage and tie the game. They pulled Matecha for the extra attacker as the clock wound down, but the Cougars held on for the 4-3 win.
The two teams meet again Saturday night in Prince George before a third straight meeting at the Toyota Centre on Tuesday.