Cougars Recap: Third period comeback falls short in Victoria
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The Prince George Cougars’ (20-35-2-1) comeback attempt came up just short in their 4-2 setback to the Victoria Royals (22-34-5-1) Friday on Vancouver Island.
Riley Heidt, who celebrated his 17th birthday on Friday, scored both Cougars’ goals and both came in the third period. Tyler Brennan suffered the loss in net, as he stopped 20 of 23 shots. Prince George was 1-3 on the power play and 2-2 on the penalty kill.
Same side, same outcome. The birthday boy has two!@PGCougars https://t.co/jzTyaKpodF pic.twitter.com/66YWMgS4uo
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 26, 2022
“We were certainly happy with our effort through 40 minutes. The intensity was there. In the third, we had one mistake that ends up in the back of our net, then a disallowed goal. We’re inches away from winning hockey games,” said Cougars’ Associate Coach Josh Dixon.
It was a scoreless game through 20 minutes and the Royals led 1-0 after two periods. The two teams combined for five goals in the third. Prince George outshot Victoria 16-6 in the final frame, but it was the Royals’ scoring three times in the third.
Victoria netminder Tyler Palmer, who had a 35-save shutout in his last start against Prince George, stopped 31 of 33 shots on Friday. He has now stopped 66 of the last 68 shots the Cougars have fired at him.
Prince George was close to opening the scoring in the first period. Cayden Glover had his backhand attempt swept inches away from the goal line. Then, Hudson Thornton just missed a rebound at the side of the net on an odd-man rush.
Victoria opened the scoring late in the second period. Gannon Laroque squeezed his shot through the arm of Brennan during a four-on-four sequence at 14:35.
The Royals doubled their lead early in the third, as Marcus Almquist had his shot go off Brennan’s pad then off a defenders’ leg and in just 26 seconds into the frame.
Heidt pulled a goal back for the Cougars, as he scored his 16th 23 seconds after the Royals’ goal to make 2-1.
The eventual game winner was scored by Riley Gannon at 2:19 of the third. Brennan went back to play the puck behind the Cougars’ net, but had his stick lifted by Tanner Scott, who then fed Gannon out front to make it 3-1.
Controversy arose with just under four minutes left in the game. Connor Bowie thought he had scored on a rebound in the crease on an extended power play. However, the referee had blown the whistle after losing sight of the puck. The play was not reviewed.
On that same power play, Heidt scored his second of the period at 18:47 to make it 3-2. He scored his second goal of the game in nearly the same spot as his first.
Prince George kept pressing but the Royals put the game away with an empty net goal with 12 second left.
GAME NOTES
The Cougars remain in eighth place in the Western Conference after Friday’s game, tied on points with the Spokane Chiefs. The Chiefs lost 7-2 to the Everett Silvertips Friday. Riley Heidt’s first goal, 49 seconds into the third period, was the Cougars’ first goal in over 143 minutes against the Royals. With his assist on Friday, Koehn Ziemmer now has 16 points (9G-7A) in his last 12 games.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Royals: Gannon Laroque, Marcus Almquist, Riley Gannon, Wyatt Wilson
Cougars: Riley Heidt (2)
Goaltending
Royals: Tyler Palmer (W), 60:00, 31 saves, 31 shots
Cougars: Tyler Brennan (L), 57:27, 20 saves, 23 shots
Power-Play
Royals: 0/2
Cougars: 1/3
Shots
Royals: 24
Cougars: 33
Three Stars: 1) Tanner Scott 2) Tyler Palmer 3) Riley Heidt
Next Game: Saturday, March 26th at Victoria Royals, 7:05 pm
