Dylan Garand made 35 saves, 18 of them in the third period, as the Kamloops Blazers held on for a 2-1 Sunday night victory over the Prince George Cougars.
The 16-year-old Garand was named the first star after Prince George outshot Kamloops 36-26.
The only P.G. goal came from Josh Maser on a power play with just 2:09 left in the third period.
The Cougars went 1/7 and the Blazers 0/5 with the man advantage.
Taylor Gauthier stopped 20 of 22 shots before leaving after the second period due to a bout with the flu.
Isaiah DiLaura made just four saves in the third.
The Cougars played without injured defenceman Cole Moberg.
Cats forward Ilijah Colina left the game in the first period (upper-body).
Kamloops has won the first three games of the season series.
The two teams meet again in Prince George for a weekend double-header on January 19th & 20th.
The 12-21-1-2 Cougars have lost 11 of their last 13 games to fall four points behind (14-17-2-1) Kamloops for the second and final wild-card spot.
Prince George is also a point ahead of last-place (11-18-4) Seattle in the Western Conference.
The Cougars play their next game Friday in Kelowna with their next home game the following Friday (Jan 11) also against Kelowna.
Coach Serge Lajoie comments on a 2-1 win backstopped by 35 saves from @DylanGarand31 ?
WATCH: ? pic.twitter.com/0K9lO4DT84— Kamloops Blazers (@blazerhockey) December 31, 2018
SCORING SUMMARY
First Period
Blazers [1-0] Montana Onyebuci from Carson Denomie 16:12
Second Period
Blazers [2-0] Brodi Stuart from Zane Franklin and Quinn Schmiemann 8:53
Third Period
Cougars [2-1] Josh Maser from Ryan Schoettler and Joel Lakusta 17:51
http://whl.ca/gamecentre/1015982/boxscore
?: Highlights from yesterday’s 2-1 setback against @blazerhockey. | #NorthernUprising
? https://t.co/o3uGvdrslH pic.twitter.com/PrkWPau8zE
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 31, 2018