The Prince George Cougars saved their best for last Wednesday night on the road in Wenatchee.
Down 2-0 and 3-1 during their game against the Wenatchee Wild, the Cougars rallied with three unanswered goals, two in the third period, to defeat the Wild 4-3.
Lee Shurgot notched the gamewinner, 12:18 into the third period.
It was the fifth-straight win for the Cats (36-19-4-2), who moved to within three points of the idle Victoria Royals in the race for first place in the BC Division.
The Cougars’ defence provided two of their offensive strikes.
Exactly four minutes after Deagan McMillan’s goal 23 seconds into the second period increased the Wenatchee lead to 2-0, pointman Bauer Dumanski made it a 2-1 game with a shot from the circle that went off a body before it sailed into the net.
Miles Cooper restored the two-goal lead for the Wild 6:51 into the second and it stayed that way until Cougars blueliner connected on a power play less than two minutes before the intermission.
The Cougars continued their pushback in the third period and forced the Wild into a penalty that backfired on them. Dawson Seitz had just one second left in his cross-checking penalty when Jett Lajoie found the net, scoring his 14th of the season 9:25 into the period.
Then with the teams playing at even strength and the Cougars’ fourth line buzzing the net, L Shurgot batted the puck in behind goalie Brendan Gee to give the Cougars their only lead of the night and they hung on to it.
The Wild went on a five-minute power play with 4:45 left in the third when Evan Groening got his elbow up in collision with Wild player and was assessed major and game misconduct, forcing the Cougars to play shorthanded for what was left of regulation time
Josh Ravensbergen made some big saves on that penalty kill, Dumanski managed a key shot block and the Cougars slammed the door on the Wild, much to the disappointment of their fans in the crowd of 2,590.
Shots were 34-32 in the Wild’s favour.
The Cougars went 2-for-2 on the power and were perfect in their two penalty kills.
The same teams will meet again in the rematch at Town Totota Center in Wenatchee. Game time is 7 p.m.
LOOSE PUCKS: Sixteen-year-old rookie defenceman Radoslav Dimitrov, a native of Edmonton, notched his first career WHL goal to open the scoring midway through the first period… …. The Cougars have seven games left in their WHL schedule, while the Royals have eight yet to play. Prince George plays Saturday in Everett (6:05 p.m.) and Sunday in Langley (4 p.m.) before they head home to PG…. The Cats will host Wenatchee next Friday and Saturday (March 14-15). That series will mark the return of Wild head coach Don Nachbaur to his old stomping grounds… After that, the Cougars will have just two games left, both at CN Centre March 21-22 against the Victoria.
