The Prince George Cougars are a bit of a nasty streak.
They can’t seem to win for losing.
The Cats suffered their fourth-straight loss Saturday night, a 4-1 decision handed to them by the top dogs in the WHL, the Everett Silvertips.
Tarin Smith led the Silvertips with a goal and an assist and was named the first star.
He opened the scoring 6:08 into the first period and much of the opening 20 minutes was played in the Cougars’ end. Outshot 20-8 they got put of the period with score knotted 1-1. Washington Capitals first-rounder Terik Parascak potted a rebound late in the period for his 20th goal this season to get the Cougars on the board.
The gamewinner came 8:29 into the second period. Tyler McKenzie scored shorthanded with Everett forward serving a hooking penalty and the Silvertips got the insurance goal from Cole Temple a couple minutes into the third period.
Dominik Rymon capped the scoring into an empty net.
Raiden LeGall stopped 19 of 20 shots between the pipes for the Silvertips to improve his record to 7-1.
The Cougars were outshot 41-20.
Josh Ravensbergen, listed by NHL Central Scouting last week as the top North American goalie available in the 2025 draft, took the loss in net for Prince George.
The Silvertips improved to 35-5-3-3 while the Cougars lost their grip on first place in the BC Division, dropping to 24-14-3-2.
The Victoria Royals (25-12-3-4) pasted the Kamloops Blazers by identical 7-1 scores Friday and Saturday in Victoria to move four points ahead of Prince George in the standings.
The Cougars’ road woes began last weekend with 6-3 losses in Kelowna and Kamloops. On Friday, they took 10 minor penalties against the Spokane Chiefs and lost 5-2.
LOOSE PUCKS: The Cougars were without defencemen Alexsey Chichkin and Corbin Vaughan. Chichkin, acquired Jan 7 in a trade from the Regina Pats, served a one-game suspension for a cross-checking major penalty he was handed in the Spokane game. Vaughan, also a trade pickup from the Pats, served the first of a four-game suspension for a cross-checking major infraction in the Jan. 11 game in Kamloops. Vaughan received the harsher sentence as a repeat offender…. Rookie d-man Leith Hunter took advantage of the additional icetime in the absence of Vaughan and Chichkin and was paired with Bauer Dumanski. Associate coach Jim Playfair said the six-foot-six Hunter stood out Saturday as the Cats’ top defenceman…. The Cats hope to regain their winning ways after a week of practice when they head into Indigenous Weekend at CN Centre to face the Brandon Wheat Kings on Friday (7 p.mn.) and the Kamloops Blazers on Saturday (6 p.m.).
