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Close but no cigar yet again for Cougars

One-goal losses are tough to swallow at the best of times. In the case of the Prince George Cougars, this is getting downright cruel.
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One-goal losses are tough to swallow at the best of times.

In the case of the Prince George Cougars, this is getting downright cruel.

It happened again Tuesday night at CN Centre where the Edmonton Oil Kings made the Cougars their latest victims in what ended up a 3-2 game which extended the Cougars’ winless streak to eight games.

Five of those losses were by the slimmest of margins and that’s become a broken record grating on the nerves of the Cats, who dropped to 4-16-0-2. Of the 18 games they’ve lost this season, 12 were either one-goal decisions or games the Cougars took on the chops as a result of late rallies in the final three or four minutes that produced an empty-net goal or an insurance marker.

“That’s a year full of one-goal games already, I’ve never had our goalie out this much (pushing for the equalizer) a quarter through the season, because we’re chasing it so much,” said Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb.

“This team’s going to keep working and we’re going to play the same way and we’re going to keep trying to score goals. We’re really close. It’s hard to say you’re close when you look at our record, but when you really break it down it’s not about creating scoring chances, it’s about burying scoring chances.”

On this night, against a very sharp Oil Kings clan, the Cougars certainly did have their chances but not enough of them, and far too often they came away empty-handed.

The Oil Kings seized control with back-to-back unanswered goals from David Kope and Matthew Robertson in the second period and locked it away in the third period with a disciplined kitty-bar-the-door approach that left the Cats scratching their heads in frustration.

The most destructive part of the game from the Cougars’ standpoint was their failure to score on the power play. They came within a Vladislav Mikhalchuk whiff at an open net of scoring with the extra man in the second period but as close as they got.

“That was the only negative that we had tonight,” said Lamb. “The difference was our power play, it really let us down tonight and that probably cost us the game.”

The Oil Kings weren’t much better, going 0-for-4, but they didn’t need that element to win for the 16th time in 23 games.

Newly-acquired winger Nikita Krivokrasov, 18, picked up in a trade Monday from the Tri-City Americans, arrived at the airport just three hours before the game and he made his presence felt on the ice, playing the left side on a Cougar line with Craig Armstrong and Filip Koffer. Built like a truck at five-foot-10, 200 pounds, Krivokrasov didn’t generate any points but he made smart decisions when he did get the puck and was effective killing penalties.

“It was a kind of a quick turnaround but the boys played well and from what I’ve heard in the locker room they’ve been turning things around and I’m excited to be a part of it and hopefully I can contribute in every way,” said Krivokrasov

The goal-starved Cougars finally snapped their scoreless drought just shy of 200 minutes dating back three games when Mitch Kohner took a drop-pass from linemate Tyson Upper on a left-wing rush and wired a high shot into the top corner in over the glove of Edmonton goalie Sebastian Cossa early in the second period.

The goal erased a 1-0 deficit and the Cougars grabbed the lead nine minutes later. Defenceman Cole Moberg stripped the puck from Jake Neighbours in the neutral zone to set up a 3-on-1 break. Josh Maser and Vladislav Mikhalchuk joined the rush and jammed the net and the rebound of Maser’s shot came out to Moberg, who batted it in for his fourth of the season.

The celebration didn’t last long. Less than a minute later Kope flicked a high wrist shot that goalie Taylor Gauthier reached up to catch, but it fluttered in off the webbing of his glove. The game-winner came three minutes before the second intermission, seconds after the Cougars had killed off a penalty and Robertson did the deed, scoring on a long wrister from the point with traffic in front of Gauthier.

The Oil Kings gave up very little in the third period and the Cougars were there own worst enemies, giving up the puck up with passes that missed the mark and losing too many battles to retrieve dump-ins into the Edmonton zone.

They tried to get Gauthier to the bench for the extra skater but the Oil Kings, led by their top-line forwards - Vladimir Alistrov, Riley Sawchuck and Kope – locked it down with a stifling neutral-zone stand that pretty much kept the Cougars from crossing the Oil King blueline in the final two minutes.

“I saw unbelievable structure from their team,” said Lamb. “We’ve been in that situation so many times I don’t even have to draw up a play. Getting it through the neutral zone, getting the goalie out, we were trying to do that and their team stacked that neutral zone really well and did a good job against us.”

The Oil Kings used their speed and came out flying at the opening puck-drop, firing 18 shots on Gauthier in the first period, but were unable to score on him until the 16-minute mark of the period, when Neighbours dug the puck out of the corner and let go a low shot from the slot. The goal came seconds after the stick of Cougars defenceman Marco Creta broke up a 2-on-1 pass through the crease from Neighbours to Dylan Guenther, staring at an open net.

The Oil Kings came into the game sporting the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and they improved to 14-4-3-2. Their win over the Cougars moved them one point ahead of Prince Albert into first place in the conference.

The Cougars have another tough test in store this weekend when they host Kamloops Friday and Saturday at CN Centre. The Blazers (14-7-0-0) rank second in the Western Conference heading into their game against Seattle tonight in Kamloops. The Cougars lost 1-0 to the Blazers on the road last Friday.

 

 

Tuesday WHL summary

Oil Kings 3 at Cougars 2

First Period

1. Edmonton, Neighbours 5 (Guenther) 16:21

Penalties – Creta PG (roughing) 11:32, Bowie PG (kneeing) 18:47.

Second Period

2. Prince George, Kohner 4 (Upper, Creta )2:16

3. Prince George, Moberg 4 (Maser, Mikhalchuk) 11:11

4. Edmonton, Kope 6 (Alistrov, Cap) 12:08

5. Edmonton, Robertson 5 (Guenther, Williams) 16:45

Penalties – Slaney Edm (tripping) 5:26, Sawchuck Edm (roughing) 8:26, McLeod Edm (hooking) 13:46, Schoettler PG (hooking) 14:39, Robertson Edm (boarding) 17:49.

Third Period

No scoring

Penalties – Atkinson Edm (delay of game) 1:07, Mikhalchuk PG (tripping) 9:59.

Shots on goal by

Edmonton       18        7          11        -36

Prince George7          11        6          -24

Goal – Edmonton, Cossa (W,6-1-0-1); Prince George, Gauthier (L,2-13-0-2)

Power plays – Edm: 0-4; PG: 0-5.

Referees – Bryan Bourdon, Ryan O’Keefe; Linesmen – Tyler Garden, Anthony Maletta.

Attendance – 1,803.

Scratches – Edmonton: D Jacson Alexander (upper body), D Conner McDonald (not with team for personal reasons), F Jesse Seppela (upper body), F Tyler Horstmann (healthy); Prince George: RW Reid Perepeluk (served first of three-game suspension for charging major and game misconduct against Vancouver, Nov. 16), C Ethan Browne (upper body), LW Holden Kodak (healthy), D Joe Kennedy (healthy).