That will make the lengthy trip down from Prince George easier to stomach for the Victoria Royals. And now they control whether they have to go back up or not.
The Royals defeated the Prince George Cougars 3-0 Thursday night before 4,448 fans at CN Centre to take a 3-1 lead in their best-of-seven opening-round Western Hockey League playoff series.
It was a swing game that could have tied the series for B.C. Division third-seed Prince George. Instead, it put second-seed Victoria on the verge of winning the series.
“We played with desperation tonight and with the kind of emotion that had not been in our game [in a 4-2 Cougars’ victory Wednesday in Game 3],” said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
They are all now elimination games for the Cougars, the first of which is Game 5 on Saturday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre. Game 6, if required, will be Monday night in Prince George. If it goes to a seventh game, that will be next Wednesday in Victoria.
Coleman Vollrath recorded a 24-save shutout Thursday, although he was helped by three Prince George shots that rang off posts.
“He made timely saves and quality saves,” said Lowry, of his goaltender.
Travis Brown and Regan Nagy each had a goal and assist, while Brandon Magee added two assists to become the greatest career playoff point-getter in Chilliwack Bruins/Royals franchise history.
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A scoreless but hectic first period saw both teams ring multiple shots off posts and Victoria stave off four Prince George power-play chances.
Defenceman Brown broke the deadlock with a wrist shot high to the corner at 4:40 of the second period for his first goal of the playoffs following some yeoman work from Nagy to set up the play.
Nagy got the favour repaid when Magee set him up nicely at 46 seconds of the third period for what basically became a tap-in on a two-on-one Victoria break while short-handed.
With the assist, Magee established the franchise record for the most career playoff points with 21. He had been tied at 20 with Steven Hodges, the Florida Panthers-signed centre who is currently playing pro in the ECHL.
The short-handed goal put an exclamation mark beside Victoria’s outstanding night on the penalty kill, as the Royals held the Cougars down on all eight of their power plays. That was crucial, considering the Cougars came into the game leading the WHL in playoff power-goals with six and were connecting on a 40-plus per cent clip.
“It was case of us making some adjustments. The difference tonight was that the guys paid a price and got in the lanes,” said Lowry.
Alex Forsberg, skating against his former team, jammed home a loose puck on a Victoria power play to put the game away at 14:53 of the third. Drawing the first assist on the play was Magee for his eighth point of the playoffs. Brown also assisted to complete his two-point night.
Jack Palmer recorded an assist on the first goal of the game, by Brown, and received a shout-out from the coach.
“The Palmer line was the difference tonight,” said Lowry.
Victoria has a history of push back against the Cougars. This was the ninth consecutive time in four years that Victoria has beaten Prince George in the second game after losing the first game of a back-to-back set.
Ty Edmonds made 21 saves in goal for Prince George. He will be throwing himself at the pucks on Saturday night back on Blanshard as these Cats are now backed into a corner. Which means this could be a dangerous animal.
“The toughest game to win in a playoff series is the fourth one,” warned Lowry.
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