It’s a movie the Prince George Cougars have seen far too often with the same ending over and over again.
The Victoria Royals, in dramatic style, knocked off the Cougars 3-2 in a shootout to the chagrin of 2,079 fans at CN Centre.
The Royals erased a 2-0 deficit after two periods to beat Prince George for the 10th consecutive time, including five this season.
Gary Haden scored two third period goals, including the equalizer with the goalie pulled and just 1:07 left on the clock.
Tarun Fizer tallied the only goal in the shootout, the second time this season he has notched the shootout winner against PG.
Reid Perepeluk and Ethan Browne scored for the Cougars, who outshot the Royals 42-34.
Ethan Browne scored in his return to the line up but it was the Cougars coming up short in the shootout against Victoria Friday.#NorthernUprising #WHL
RECAP ➡️ https://t.co/4OzurMllfr
? Brett Cullen Photo pic.twitter.com/yb1BtneRPQ— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 14, 2019
“Playing to win means you do the little things that lead to a win, but we just didn’t do that late in the game,” stated General Manager & Head Coach Mark Lamb post-game.
“Even though we scored a power-play goal, I thought our special teams let us down a bit. We had chances to put them away but didn’t.”
The Cougars went 1-6 on the power-play with that goal (by Browne) coming on an extended five-on-three late in the second period.
The Royals power-play was 1-2.
Shane Farkas picked up the win with 40 saves while Taylor Gauthier took the loss with 32 saves, five of them in overtime.
FINAL: @victoriaroyals (3) at @PGCougars (2) — SO
STATS ? | https://t.co/VDbScBGeMH#PGvsVIC pic.twitter.com/lIrsBQ44bP
— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 14, 2019
All five Victoria wins in 2019-20 against Prince George have been by one goal, with three of them decided in a shootout.
The (16-9-2) Royals and Cougars meet again tonight in the Teddy Bear & Toque Toss game.
This will be the Cats final home game in 2019.
The last time Prince George beat Victoria was on December 2nd, 2018, which was the last Teddy Bear Toss game at CN Centre.
.@PGCougars getting set for 14th annual Teddy and Toque toss game against the @victoriaroyals in @TheWHL action @mypgnow
| https://t.co/uSoIpaYH3L #CityOfPG #sports pic.twitter.com/NXZvqqmTQl— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 11, 2019
The (6-20-1-3) Cougars have lost six straight, scoring just nine goals over that stretch.
The Cougars are 11 points behind the (12-13-2-1) Tri-City Americans for the last Western Conference wild-card spot.
MJ 1 BDN 11
KEL 3 REG 4
KAM 5 SAS 2
WPG 1 PA 3
SC 1 EDM 5
MH 4 RD 6
VIC 3 PG 2 (SO)
EVT 2 POR 3 (OT)
TC 1 SEA 5— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 14, 2019
The PG Cougars schedule/results right here.
The WHL standings are right here.
CAT SCAN: @Hartley_Miller chats with @TheWHL off-ice official Rich Phillips on this week’s podcast @PGCougars | #cityofpg #sports https://t.co/7MAEpEBAFR #NorthernUprising pic.twitter.com/p4eVIQVTwM
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 12, 2019