The Prince George Cougars had another rough going south of the border to conclude their seven-game road trip.
Despite goaltender Tavin Grant posting a 47-save performance and earning the game’s First Star, the Everett Silvertips potted two goals in the final 90 seconds of the contest to win 3-1 over Prince George Friday night.
“We got to find a way to seal off all these points,” said Cougars Assistant Head Coach Steve O’Rourke on 94.3 the GOAT’s post-game show.
“At the end of the day, in the last two minutes, we lost a game for two nights in a row. We got to be able to generate a little more offence,especially from the top line. They’ve kind of put the dagger in our hearts; we got to do that the other way with our top guys and get the job done.”
Another late winner. @WHLsilvertips take it 3-1. Cougars end 7-game road trip with a 2-3-0-2 record. Recap to come #WHL #CityofPG
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) November 4, 2017
The ‘Tips began the scoring under four minutes into the first frame for the early advantage in their home barn, but Cougars forward Josh Maser brought the red and black to a 1-1 tie with less than seven minutes left in the second period.
During this first meeting of the season with Everett, the Cats were able to kill all eight penalties against them for a perfect night of special teams.
However, O’Rourke believes getting a lot of whistles leads to lower self-confidence on the defense.
“The rhythm is just lost and the guys eventually get tired. Even with this road trip, we’ve been gone for a long time and we’ve definitely been over-using our top guys leaving not much ice time for the young guys on the fourth-line. For the most part though, your penalties are your penalties, and it is what it is.”
The Silvertips would break the tie with 82 seconds left and add an empty netter to seal the victory, and hand the Cougars their eighth loss of the 2017-18 season.
FINAL: @PGCougars (1) at @WHLsilvertips (3)
SCORING ? | https://t.co/w5wDNWywK2#EVTvsPG
— The WHL (@TheWHL) November 4, 2017
Prince George finishes their 10-day road trip with a record of 2-3-0-2, and O’Rourke says the challenge now is playing well at the CN Centre.
“That’s always a kicker, the first run back as we got to try to get that bite back, try to get comfortable, and try to relax before getting back to work. So we’ll probably take a couple days off and then try to ramp practice before facing them once again.”
Prince George will face Everett on home ice in back-to-back nights next weekend, holding on to third place in the BC Division five points back of Kelowna.
Puck-drop is slated for 7PM Friday, November 10th and Saturday the 11th.
