The brief winning streak came to an end Saturday (Feb. 1) for the Prince George Cougars.
It came at the hands of Tri-City’s power-play unit, which converted on three of five opportunities throughout the contest, including two in a row to win on a 3-2 comeback at the CN Centre and sending the Cats off into the sunset on Country Night.
FINAL: @TCAmericans (3) at @PGCougars (2)
— The WHL (@TheWHL) February 2, 2020
STATS đź“’ | https://t.co/SGzUPjSeZB#PGvsTC pic.twitter.com/EMvLD06fHW
Ilijah Colina and Jack Sander each got two assists for Prince George, while Tyler Brennan made 21 saves on 24 shots in his 12th start in goal of the season.
Tri-City broke the board first once again at 12:25 of the opening frame and took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.
Jonny Hooker tied it up 75 seconds into the second stanza for his 12th of the year, his fourth in a Cougars sweater, while Vladislav Mikhalchuk, nearly 10 minutes later, recorded his fourth point in back-to-back nights by scoring the go-ahead 2-1 marker.
Prince George almost carried the one-goal advantage into the locker room, but former Cariboo Cougar Booker Daniel had other plans and made it a 2-2 tie with one click left in the period.
The two teams kept it close for the majority of the third, but a night after scoring four unanswered goals, the Cougars were not able to pull ahead.
The Americans’ special teams broke the deadlock with the 3-2 game-winning goal with 4:03 remaining in regulation.
Tri-City goaltender Mason Dunsford, a product of New Westminster, turned away 37 of 39 shots for his first career Western Hockey League (WHL) victory.
Prince George’s record drops to 14-26-3-4 with 21 games left in the season and due to Seattle’s shootout win in Portland, they’re five games back of the second wild-card playoff spot.
The Thunderbirds fly into B.C.’s north on Tuesday (Feb. 4) and Wednesday (Feb. 5) for a pair of midweek match-ups against the Cougars.
Puck drop is 7 p.m. for both nights.
