It was yet another Cougar collapse in Edmonton.
Tuesday night at Rexall Place, the Prince George Cougars had a 5-2 lead against the Edmonton Oil Kings at the end of two periods but lost 6-5. The Oil Kings totally dominated the last 20 minutes -- outshooting the Cats 26-5 -- and scored four unanswered goals for the comeback victory.
"We got a goal real early and then everybody decided it was going to be point night," said Cougars head coach Dean Clark. "When that happens, the things we did consistently well against Kelowna [during two weekend home-ice wins], that was right out the window."
The early goal was a breakaway marker by captain Brett Connolly, just 2:49 after the opening puck-drop. After an Edmonton marker by Rhett Rachinski, Taylor Stefishen, Sena Acolatse and James Dobrowolski all found the Oil Kings' net and the Cats were up 4-1 heading to the second period.
In the middle frame, Edmonton's Adrian Van de Mosselaer and Prince George's Brock Hirsche exchanged goals and the Cats were still in good shape, ahead 5-2.
Then, from the Cougars' perspective, came the awful third period.
The Oil Kings -- on goals by Travis Ewanyk, Jordan Hickmott and Mike Piluso -- pulled into a 5-5 tie and then won the game when Dylan Wruck beat goalie Ty Rimmer from the left faceoff circle with just 1:33 left to play.
"We came to the third period and we didn't have guys caring about the right things," Clark said.
Overall, the Oil Kings outshot the Cougars 43-31.
When the Cougars were last in Edmonton, back on Oct. 11, they wasted a 6-3 lead and lost 8-7 in overtime.
In the Western Hockey League, the Cougars have now lost nine of their past 10 road games.
With Tuesday's result, the Cats' record dropped to 26-24-2-1, while the Oil Kings improved to 25-26-1-3.
The Cougars will play in Medicine Hat tonight and then have games in Lethbridge (Friday), Calgary (Saturday) and Red Deer (Sunday).
