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Moberg plays the hero as Cougars sweep Giants

Cole Moberg made sure the Vancouver Giants went home without a win.

The 19-year-old blueliner and Chicago Blackhawks prospect scored the game-winner 1:50 into overtime as the Prince George Cougars completed the weekend sweep of their BC Division rival with a 4-3 victory on Saturday in front of 2,967 fans on Fan Appreciation Night.

It was also the final WHL regular-season home game for graduating 20-year-olds Josh Maser, Vladislav Mikhalchuk and Ryan Schoettler.

After the game, Moberg spoke about how fond he is of all three players.

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“They are huge, I have been with them during the entire three years I have been here, happy to get them a few wins at home for them in their last games here (in PG) and they just help everyone so much in the room, growing up with them I glad they have been able to help out so much.”

For the second straight night, the Cougars were grossly outshot by the Giants as the visitors held a 43-30 edge, including 19-4 in the 3rd.

However, it would be Prince George who stormed out of the gate like gangbusters building up an early 3-0 lead.

Maser kicked off the festivities 6:33 into the opening period, beating Vancouver netminder Drew Sim.

Filip Koffer then buried his ninth of the campaign from Ethan Browne to give the Cats a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes.

“We are playing for the fans and especially our 20’s, with this being the last home game. We played together as a team and to stick together, that’s everything that we want,” added Koffer.

In the second, Jack Sander blasted home his fourth of the year from Maser, putting the Giants on the ropes.

Vancouver turned the tide in the later stages of middle frame courtesy of Justin Sourdif’s 26th of the season on the power-play solving Cougars netminder Taylor Gauthier.

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Bowen Byran followed that up with a near buzzer-beater over the shoulder of Gauthier making it a 3-2 game.

Prince George successfully killed off a five-minute major to Ilijah Colina early in the third period but it was Byram who potted the equalizer with 1:25 remaining in regulation.

The Cougars extended their winning streak to three games, improving their record to 20-34-4-4, seven points back of the Seattle Thunderbirds for the final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

Both Prince George and Seattle have six games left.

On the other hand, Vancouver has hit the skids late in the season going winless in their last four outings (0-3-1-0), dropping to 32-24-4-2 and are tied with the Victoria Royals for second place in the BC Division.

Sourdif spoke with MyPGNow.com post-game who said the team has got complacent.

“We didn’t come prepared even from the game before this against Kamloops, we didn’t come prepared, we didn’t have a good week of practice and it kind of showed on the ice. We were able to get a lot of shots but a lot of them were from the outside, we weren’t able to capitalize.”

“We aren’t getting the bounces like we were on our eleven game winning streak and that’s because we started slacking off where it’s the little things like cleaning up our bus, everybody showing up on time, everybody being ready for practice and it’s starting to slide.”

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Despite the on-ice struggles of the Cougars the last three seasons, the one constant has been Maser.

Over the last three seasons, the Houston, BC product has been productive in front of the opposing net scoring 28 goals in 2017-18, cracking the 30-goal mark last season and is on the verge of hitting that again this year as he is currently sitting with 29 as we enter the final six games.

However, his on-ice contributions have gone anything but unnoticed from guys like Koffer.

“The guy is a goal-scorer. He is a good guy in the locker and a fun guy off the ice and I am glad we have him on this team. When I first came here I was like ‘who is this big boy’ and I was kind of scared of him but he helped me a lot.”

Prince George finishes the regular season with a 13-17-2-2 mark at CN Centre.

Gauthier made 40 saves in the win while Sim stopped 26 Cougar shots in his first WHL start (second appearance).

The Cougars begin a six-game road trip with a trio of games next weekend.

They play the Victoria Royals Friday and Saturday from the Save on Foods Memorial Arena before wrapping up with a Sunday tilt against the Giants in Langley.

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