After losing four of five games on their most recent roadtrip the Prince George are starting to hear footsteps.
That’s the sound of teams below them in the WHL standings making advances.
The Cougars lost another one Saturday in Kennewick, Wash., a 4-1 defeat at the hands of the Tri-City Americans.
The Cats started well and 16-year-old centre Ryker Singer scored the only goal of the first period while they outshot the Americans 12-9. But the second period was disastrous for the Cougars and they gave up four goals to the Americans, starting with Alex Serraglio’s Teddy Bear Toss goal on a deflection 4:33 into the period.
Jake Sloan and Ethan Ernst also connected, on Tri-City power plays, sandwiched around an even-strength goal from Sasha Mutala.
“We were happy with our start,” said Cougars associate coach Josh Dixon. “We managed the puck well, got a lead, I thought we did a real good job with our details, but our second period really hurt us. We weren’t ready to go at the start of the period and we essentially handed the game over to them.”
The Americans’ power play went 2-for-4, while the Cougars were 0-for-4 with theirs.
The Cats came on strong in the third period, outshooting their opponents 15-9, but goalie Tomas Suchanek stood up to the challenge. He made 38 saves in the game as his team was outshot 39-33. Tyler Brennan took the loss in net for Prince George.
The Americans (5-12-3-0, 10th in Western Conference) have won two out of three games this season against the Cougars (8-14-0-0, seventh place) and are now just three points behind Prince George. The Spokane Chiefs (6-12-2-1, eighth place) and Victoria Royals (6-11-3-0, ninth place) are also within striking distance of the Cats, each one point behind with games in hand. The Royals have won five of their last six games, three straight in overtime, and have gained 13 points in their last 10 games, compared to the Cougars’ four points in their last 10.
The Cougars will travel to Kelowna for a game against the Rockets on Friday, then return home for Saturday’s Teddy Bear Toss encounter with the Kamloops Blazers at CN Centre.
