The Prince George Cougars need to make up some ground for the rest of the month if they want a chance at making the playoffs this year.
Seattle Thunderbirds, their closest competitor in the western conference wild-card race, is now ahead by nine points after handing the Cats a tight-knit 2-1 loss Sunday night (Feb. 9) in Washington state.
The shots were 36-34 in favour of the T-Birds, meaning Taylor Gauthier turned away 34 of them and kept the Cats in play.
This was especially the circumstance in the middle period when tensions broke loose and a total of 34 penalty-minutes were awarded between the two clubs.
Seattle captain Connor Bruggen-Cate jumped his team ahead 1-0 in the first frame, burying a rebound past Gauthier’s blocker side.
In the second stanza, the Thunderbirds earned a 2-0 advantage off a toe-drag shot tipped in by Matthew Rempe at 15:51.
The Cougars prevented the potential shut out for Roddy Ross as Ilijah Colina quickly cut the deficit 41 seconds later and carried a 2-1 score into the locker room after 40 minutes.
The alternate captain’s ninth of the season came on a power-play post and in with assists from Josh Maser and Vladislav Mikhalchuk.
The third period saw very little action on the scoresheet aside from an interference penalty assessed to Cole Moberg, to which the Cougars were able to kill it off.
Prince George outshot Seattle 10-8, but the buzzer sounded too soon for the 2-1 final.
With 17 games left on the regular season, the Cats’ record now stands at 16-28-3-4.
The Cougars come home for two games at the CN Centre over the long weekend, starting Saturday night (Feb. 15), 7 p.m. against the Calgary Hitmen.
Monday’s (Feb. 17) Family Day contest will have a 2 p.m. matinee puck-drop against the Red Deer Rebels.
