Fresh off losing to a team much lower than them in the standings, a bounce back effort in the Bridge City was in order for the Prince George Cougars.
Boy did they deliver.
A three-goal second period, including the game-winner from Carson Carels paced the Cougars to a 4-0 victory Friday night over the Saskatoon Blades in front of 5,431 fans at Sasktel Centre.
Carels became the third fastest Cougar to reach 100 points thanks to a tidy three point effort.
Ten minutes later, the big boys got to work for PG as Aiden Foster potted his 12th of the season on the power-play to double the advantage to 2-0.
A point shot from Carels led to a juicy rebound from Evan Gardner, which ended up on Foster’s blade (no pun intended) and into the net.
Kooper Gizwoski then added his 27th of the campaign capping off a Kayden Lemire pass to put some more distance between the Bridge City bunch.
The 20-year-old collected his second of the contest on the man-advantage courtesy of Carels and Brock Souch to add insult to injury.
PG netminder Josh Ravensbergen could have ordered a combo meal and still not have broken a sweat turning aside all 21 Saskatoon shots that came his way for the shutout.
The Cougars out shot the Blades 30-21 and went 2-for-2 on the power-play while Saskatoon failed to score in their two opportunities.
Fort St. John’s Gardiner made 26 saves in defeat for the Blades.
PG improves to 36-21-2-0 on the season, remaining a point up on the Kelowna Rockets for third place in the Western Conference.
The Cougars are 5-2 on an eight-game road trip with the final stop slated for tonight
(Saturday) against the Prince Albert Raiders (44-8-5-1).
Puck drop is 5:00 (PT) from the Art Hauser Centre.
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