A late power-play goal by Ryan Schoettler gave the Prince George Cougars their first point of the season, however, the Victoria Royals ended up sweeping the doubleheader on Vancouver Island.
The 20-year-old Schoettler took a pass from Rhett Rhinehart and tallied with the goalie pulled and the Cats enjoying a 6-on-4 advantage with 17 seconds left, before the Royals skated off with a 3-2 victory in a shootout.
Gary Haden notched the winner past Taylor Gauthier in the fourth round of the shootout before 3,899 fans.
The Royals have now won 10 consecutive home games vs. the Cougars.
Victoria’s last loss to Prince George at Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre came on December 27th, 2017.
RECAP | Cougars earn their first point of the season in shootout loss to @victoriaroyals.#NorthernUprising #WHL
? https://t.co/joB5doqV1W pic.twitter.com/rcRQmGYdgV
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) September 29, 2019
The Saturday game appeared similar to Victoria’s 2-1 Friday win over PG until the dying moments.
For the second straight night, the (0-3-0-1) Cougars opened the scoring before the (2-1) Royals tied it in the second and then got the go ahead goal in the third.
Schoettler and Josh Maser set up Ethan Browne’s first goal of the season midway through the first.
Swiss import Keanu Derungs, who scored the winner Friday, tied the game on a power-play just past the midway mark of the second.
Carson Miller, with just 1:27 left in the third, got what looked like the winner for the Royals but
Schoettler scored just 48 seconds after Sean Gulka took an interference penalty.
Gauthier, who was named third star on Friday, was selected second star Saturday after stopping 31 of 33 shots.
Overage goalie Shane Farkas earned the win for the second straight night with 25 saves on 27 shots.
The Cougars went 1/4 and the Royals 1/3 on the power-play.
After four games, the Cougars are 2/19 with the man advantage (10.5 %) and 9/13 on the penalty kill (69.2 %).
They have scored seven goals while allowing 14.
Prince George is the only winless team in the WHL.
The league standings are right here.
The @victoriaroyals defended home turf for a second consecutive night against the Prince George Cougars.#WHLOpeningWeek TONIGHT ? | https://t.co/gSqiv6rrY7 pic.twitter.com/ILrE4C2Sbf
— The WHL (@TheWHL) September 29, 2019
The Cougars are off until they host the (2-1-1) Kelowna Rockets Friday and Saturday.
The Rockets lost today (Sunday) 4-0 to the Vancouver Giants in Langley.