At the end of three, penalties were what held the Prince George Cougars back in their home opener against the Vancouver Giants, losing 5-3 to the reigning Western Conference champions at the CN Centre Friday night.
With much discussion of where the Cougars would find their scoring after netting just six goals in five pre-season games, Tyson Upper looked to be the early answer to that question.
The Calgary native tallied two goals for Prince George, earning himself 1st-star honours for the night.
“It was big for my confidence,” said Upper following his performance. “Mark (Lamb) and I had a meeting this week and we talked about me not shooting enough in preseason. Right in the first period there, I took a shot and it bounced right out to (Austin) Crossley and he almost got a big goal there. Mark said when you shoot the puck you’re going to create opportunities.”
Despite having fewer penalties than the Giants, Vancouver managed to seize its opportunities by scoring on two of its three powerplays.
The Giants drew first blood less than five minutes into the first period, Tristen Neilsen squeaked the puck along the goal line and off the skate of Cougars’ goaltender Taylor Gauthier to give Vancouver the early lead.
While the Cougars opted for early shots off of their defensive breakouts, the Giants put the pressure on Gauthier by working the puck between the circles.
That pressure eventually led to Vancouver’s second goal of the game. This time, on the powerplay. Following a roughing call to Prince George’s Rhett Rhinehart, defenceman Seth Bafaro sniped one past the outstretched pad of Gauthier with 4:40 remaining in the first period.
Less than a minute after Vancouver’s second goal of the night, and while on the powerplay, 2019 Chicago Blackhawks draft pick, Cole Moberg, quickly took a dish from Josh Maser from behind the Giants’ net and put it past Miner to put the Cougars on the board, narrowing the visitors lead to now one.
The goals from @NHLBlackhawks prospects keep coming! @cmobes23 lights the lamp for @PGCougars! #WHLOpeningWeek pic.twitter.com/aJa4sfM2Ka
— The WHL (@TheWHL) September 21, 2019
With Moberg being the Cougars most offensive-defenceman, General Manager and Head Coach Mark lamb decided to put the team’s top-scoring defenceman from last season as a forward on their top powerplay unit.
“We’re lacking right-handed shots right now. We didn’t use that group in exhibition and we just thought we’d try it,” said Lamb, adding that with time he believes it could develop into a very effective powerplay.
The early pressure on Gauthier brought some grit from the Cougars, which seemed to be in place throughout the game as the Giants made it their mission for persistent post-whistle scuffles.
In the second, Prince George went on their third powerplay of the game after Kaleb Bulych was sent to the box after getting called for a slashing penalty.
At game’s end, Vancouver tallied a total of 14 minutes worth of penalties.
With the man-advantage, the Cougars best chance came byway of Moberg. As the puck worked its way along the right side of the attacking zone, the defenceman stood open inside the opposite faceoff circle, fanning on what could very well have been his second goal.
It would be slow-going for either team’s offence for much of the second period. That is until Lukas Svejkovsky found himself a hole in the Cougars defence as the Giants’ winger carried the puck across the blueline. As he veered in on net, the Point Roberts, Washington native snapped a shot past Gauthier’s blocker side, reclaiming the Giants their two-point lead.
Looking to mirror the Giants’ scoring opportunities, Gauthier was quick to set up the Cougars next chance, pushing the puck into transition by passing to defenceman Jack Sander, who then sent Tyson Upper up ice all alone before ripping the puck off of Miner’s glove and trickling into the net for the Cougars second goal.
Living off of the momentum, the Cougars weren’t done there as they not only cut into their deficit but completely erased it before the conclusion of the period.
Keeping his stick on the ice, Upper found himself notching his second goal of the game after deflecting a wide-shot from Schoettler on net and catching the Giants netminder sleeping. The goal drew the Cougars and Giants even at 3-3, sending the 2,857 fans in attendance at the CN Centre into a frenzy.
With the third period starting with both teams even, Vancouver insisted on keeping the after-whistle antics on Gauthier present, ultimately drawing a penalty that would lead to a go-ahead goal, and the game-winner at that.
? WHL Highlight of the Night ?
September 20, 20192020 #NHLDraft prospect @justinsourdif of @WHLGiants#WHLHoN | #WHLOpeningWeek pic.twitter.com/LK6fnG5nQc
— The WHL (@TheWHL) September 21, 2019
Capitalizing on a cross-checking call by the Cougars, Justin Sourdif sliced his way through the Prince George defence before lifting the puck over the shoulder of Gauthier. The starting goaltender for the Cougars stopped 24 of the 28 shots he faced from the Giants.
With the Cougars’ net empty, Jackson Sheppard got sent free by Milos Roman to pot the final goal of the game, giving the Giants the 5-3 victory.
Post-game, Lamb said his team is going to need to control their emotions as the season goes on.
“The difference of the hockey game is when you take a couple of bad penalties, which we’ve been prone to do, and it’s something that we need to clean up. When we do that, it looks like we can have some flow and it looks like we’re going to be a decent team.”
The Cougars will be back in action tonight (Saturday) against the very same Giants.
Puck drop at the CN Centre is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.