If you don’t respect your opponent, bad things happen.
In a season filled with so much promise, the Prince George Cougars (19-21-4-0) still can’t get out of their own way.
In front of 5,101 fans at the CN Centre on Saturday to celebrate Indigenous Night, the Cougars squandered a 4-1 result to the Prince Albert Raiders (17-25-3-0).
“We had one line that was going,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars head coach and general manager post game on 94.3 the Goat.
“We had way too many passengers and when we did get a couple of flurries we didn’t bury it.”
Raiders captain Evan Herman took the game by the scruff of the neck and catapulted the visitors into the driver’s seat as he blasted a seeing eye shot past Cougars goaltender Ty Young putting PA ahead 3-1 after two periods.
The 20-year-old from The Pas, Manitoba struck again at 3:43 of the third on the power-play blasting a wrist shot past the glove of Young.
Prior to the goal, Cougars agitator Jaxen Wiebe was called for goaltender interference after making contact with Raiders netminder Max Hildebrand.
Carter Anderson notched the game-winner for Prince Albert at 15:16 of the middle period, riffling a shot, high glove on Young.
Prince George and the Raiders were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Import forward Ondrej Becher got the fans out of their seats at the 1:01 mark as he streaked down the far wing, accepting a Wiebe pass and handcuffing Hildebrand.
That turned out to be the lone highlight of the night for the Cougars.
While on a penalty kill, Chase Wheatcroft played a loose puck up the middle of the ice, right to the blade of Hayden Paakala who shoveled a wrist shot past a sprawled out Young.
Prince Albert outshot PG 30-29 including a 13-6 edge after the first period.
“I don’t think they surprised us,” Lamb said. “Their goalie made some key saves and they got behind in the game and stuck with it. We are chasing too many games right now and took too many bad penalties.”
“We had another good crowd tonight but I am disappointed we didn’t come out with a better effort.”
The contest had a chippy tone to it seeing three fights.
Cougars forward Carlin Dezainde took on Raiders rookie Cole Peardon inside the PG zone following a boarding minor to Blake Eastmen at 16:42 of the first period.
In the second, a clean hit by PG blueliner Ross Stanley inside Raider territory drew the ire of Easton Kovacs who dropped the mitts in a spirited tilt. Kovacs also picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct infraction.
Then with the game out of reach, Fischer O’Brien (PG) and Seth Tansem (PA) exchanged pleasantries with a fight of their own.
Prince Albert went 2-for-6 on the power-play while the Cougars were 0-for-2.
The penalty kill continues to be a sore spot for the PG this running at a 67.5% efficiency rate on home ice – last in the WHL.
The lack of discipline is becoming a concerning trend of late, something Lamb wants to fix.
“It’s been a parade to the penalty box the last couple games and it’s something we need to clean up. But, it wasn’t even that tonight for me. I didn’t like our energy and the chemistry wasn’t there.”
“It was a lot of muck,” added Lamb.
On the other hand, the Raiders came into the contest with the league’s 2nd-worst road power–play, which clicked at 13.0% – only the Edmonton Oil Kings (10.7%) ranked lower
Despite being 9 points back of the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, Prince Albert is 10-3-1-0 this season when scoring 4 or more goals.
Even with a week off between games, PG struggled mightily against the Raiders and Oil Kings getting outscored 7-5 in the process.
The Cougars continue a five-game homestead next Friday and Saturday (February 3rd and 4th) against the Victoria Royals (14-28-4-1).
Victoria is tied with the Kelowna Rockets for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, but are just nine points behind PG.
The Cougars sit sixth in the west and are seven points behind the Tri-City Americans (22-16-4-1) for fourth place. Tri-City is red-hot going unbeaten in its last ten in regulation (7-0-3-0).
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