Giants 5 – Cougars 3
For the first time all season long the Prince George Cougars have dropped both games of home weekend double-header. Sunday night in Prince George in front of a charged up crowd of 5527 fans the Cougars fell 5-3 to the Vancouver Giants. Alec Baer had two goals and an assist for Vancouver while defenceman Brennan Menell added three assists. Chase Witala and Jesse Gabrielle each responded with two points for the Cougars.
For a second straight game between the two clubs the first period ended without a goal. However there was no shortage of drama in the first as the Giants were awarded four power plays in the opening frame and the Cougars penalty killers were able to dig deep and kill them all off, including a full two minute five-on-three chance. Through one period the Cougars were outshooting the Giants 11-8.
Early in the second period the Giants struck twice in a one minute and 29 second span. First it was Carter Popoff who was able to sneak shot over the left shoulder of McBride and in from in close at the 1:23 mark. Alec Baer then scored his 12th of the season at 3:02 of the second to move the Giants ahead by two.
Back came the Cougars with a pair of their own. First Jesse Gabrielle charged the net hard and was able to scoop a Chase Witala rebound over the stuck of Ryan Kubic and home for his 25th of the season. For Gabrielle it was his fifth goal in his past three games. Exactly two minutes and 30 seconds later, Brogan O’Brien was able stuff a puck past Kubic from in close for his 11th and at the 10:29 mark of the middle stanza the game was all squared at two.
Vancouver restored their lead in the late stages of the second when David Brumm converted off a Brennan Menell rebound for his second of the season. Menell started the play with a terrific individual effort where he deked and dodged his way past a few Cougars before placing the initial shot on goal.
40 seconds into the final period Vancouver increased their lead back to two when Dmitry raced around the Cougars net, and into the high slot before chipping a back-hand shot up and over the glove of Nick McBride and in for his first of the season.
In came Ty Edmonds to replace McBride in goal for the Cougars and just a minute and 22 seconds later Alec Baer snuck his second of the game past Edmonds to open Vancouver’s lead to 5-2.
A Brad Morrison power play goal helped push the Cougars back to within two when he struck at the 3:35 mark of the third off a terrific pass from Luke Harrison. But that’s as close as the Cougars would come. In the third period they fired 11 shots at the Giants net but could only muster the one goal. The final shots were 35-28 for the Cougars but the final score ended with the Giants ahead 5-3.
Special teams were better Sunday for the Cougars who killed off all seven Giants’ power play chances and went one-for-three on the man advantage.
With the loss the Cougars record is now 23-14-1-1. Despite the loss the Cougars are no worse for wear in the standings as they still sit just a single point back of the Royals for second place in the B.C. Division.
Next up for the Cougars: A trip to Kamloops for a Wednesday televised matchup against the Kamloops Blazers.
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The Prince George Cougars want to thank the 5527 fans in attendance who helped make the atmosphere at the CN Centre electric! We also want to congratulate all of the ‘Read to Succeed’ participants who took advantage of the awesome promotion. We hope you had an enjoyable evening!
