Prince George Cougars are winless in their last two games after a 5-2 setback to the Kelowna Rockets on Friday night at the CN Centre.
The Cougars will circle the start as their undoing, as the Rockets went up 3-0 after they scored three times in the first 15 minutes of the game.
Prince George’s offence came from Liekit Reichle and Viliam Kmec. Reichle finished with two points and was named the game’s second star. Kmec’s goal was the first in his WHL career.
Taylor Gauthier was tagged with the loss in net, after he surrendered four goals on 30 shots.
Trailing 3-0, Reichle got his team on the scoresheet with his second goal of the season at 17:17 of the first period. Then, with Prince George down 3-1 in the second, Kmec scored to make it 3-2 five minutes into the second period. I
In the end, the comeback fell a goal short. Kelowna responded with two third-period goals from Colton Dach and Pavel Novak to pull away. Dach put the visitors up 4-2 at 10:39 of the final frame and Novak sealed the win with an empty-net goal at 16:44.
The Cougars were again stung by the injury bug as defenceman Bauer Dumanski and forward Caden Brown did not finish the game. Forward Kyren Gronick did not play after being hurt in Wednesday’s loss to Vancouver.
GAME NOTES: Defenceman Aidan Brook, acquired Friday morning from Medicine Hat, made his Cougars debut and was a plus-one. With the loss, the Cougars’ home record slips to 4-5-0-0 through nine games. Prince George is now winless in two games against the Rockets this season. The Cougars are now 1-4-0-0 in the month of November.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Cougars: Liekit Reichle, Viliam Kmec.
Rockets: Mark Liwiski, Steel Quiring, Tyson Feist, Colton Dach, Pavel Novak
Goaltending
Cougars: Taylor Gauthier, 58:46, 26 saves, 30 shots; Rockets: Talyn Boyko, 60:00, 18 saves, 20 shots
Power-Play
Cougars: 0-3; Rockets: 1-2
Shots
Cougars: 20; Rockets: 31
Three Stars: 1) Mark Liwiski, Kelowna; 2) Liekit Reichle, Prince George; 3) Steel Quiring, Kelowna.
Attendance - 1,829.
Next game: The Cougars (6-8-0-0) continue their homestand on Saturday (7 p.m.), a rematch with the Rockets.
