The Victoria Royals officially clinched a playoff spot and second place in the B.C. Division following a 5-2 victory over the Prince George Cougars Saturday night before 5,797 fans in the provincial capital.
For a 10th-straight season, the @victoriaroyals have qualified for the #WHLPlayoffs!
DETAILS ? | https://t.co/9WOFQGbOoD pic.twitter.com/xSXWfqyu22
— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 3, 2019
The Royals scored three unanswered goals in the third, two of them by Phillip Schultz, the first 14 seconds into the period and the insurance goal at the 5:49 mark.
Schultz also assisted on the empty net goal by Igor Martynov.
Josh Maser, with his team leading 28th (matching his career high), and Jack Sander, with his 2nd, scored for the Cougars in the second after Victoria jumped out to a 2-0 first period lead.
The game summary is right here.
The (33-25-2-2) Royals completed a weekend sweep of the two games after winning Friday’s game on home ice 4-3.
Victoria won eight of nine games in the season series against Prince George.
The Cougars outshot the Royals 34-32 but Victoria went 2/5 on the power play while the Cats were 0/3.
Taylor Gauthier blocked 27 of 31 shots in taking the loss.
The 17-39-5-3 Cougars have lost five straight and 22 of their last 23.
Prince George is 1-9-1-1 since general manager Mark Lamb took over as interim head coach.
The Cougars are 19th out of 22 teams in the WHL, three points ahead of Regina.
The standings are right here.
The Cougars have just four games left to complete their season: Friday and Saturday against the Portland Winterhawks at CN Centre, plus a home and home against the Blazers, March 15th in Kamloops and the 16th in Prince George.
(All of the PG Cougars Cat Scan Podcasts can be found right here)
LET 4 REG 1
PA 2 MJ 4
SC 2 MH 3 (OT)
CGY 5 KTN 2
BDN 1 EDM 7
PG 2 VIC 5
POR 2 KEL 1 (OT)
VAN 5 KAM 4
SEA 0 EVT 1 (OT)
SPO 5 TC 4 (OT)— The WHL (@TheWHL) March 3, 2019