The penalty-plagued Prince George Cougars couldn't generate any momentum until the third period.
And, for 60 complete minutes, they couldn't solve the goaltending of Lucas Gore.
In a Tuesday night Western Hockey League game at CN Centre, the Bruins beat the Cougars 3-0. The Bruins got a first-period power-play goal from Mike Forsyth, an even-strength marker from Mitch Topping in the second and an empty-netter by Curt Gogol in the third.
The Cougars -- who were shorthanded eight times -- only managed seven shots in each of the first two periods. In the third, they pumped 14 pucks in on Gore but weren't rewarded.
The Cats went 0-for-5 on their power play.
"I didn't mind it if we would have stayed out of the penalty box a little more," Cougars head coach Dean Clark said of his team's performance. "That played a big part of the game, obviously, special teams. On our power play, we just didn't do a very good job of getting the puck back once we dumped it. As a group, we just weren't as hungry as we needed to be on the power play."
Topping's goal deflected off P.G. defenceman Jesse Forsberg.
The Cougars dropped to 18-15-2-1 and the Bruins improved to 17-14-2-1.
The Cats were without defencemen Sena Acolatse (serving the first of a two-game suspension) and Martin Marincin (with Slovakia at the world juniors) and forward Brett Connolly (Team Canada, world juniors).
The Cougars and Bruins will meet again tonight (7 p.m.) at CN Centre.
