Langley — The Cariboo Cougars fell just short Saturday suffering their first loss of the season, 4-3 to the Vancouver NW Giants.

Both teams started the first period tentatively as neither seemed willing to make the first push offensively. But the Giants got on the board near the 12 minute mark of the first as Malik Kaila blasted one past Nathan Warren with plenty of traffic in front of the crease.

The Giants took their 1-0 lead into the second period when the Cougars beat starting goalie Bo Didur 8 minutes in with Liam Blackburn’s fifth of the season from Braiden Epp and Brad Morrison.

But just 17 seconds later the Giants restored their lead. The Cougars once again evened things up with Eli Jarvis scoring on the power play in his first game returning to the Cats after starting the season with the BCHL’s Cowichan Valley Capitals. But once again the home team responded quickly thanks to Anthony Conti deking and sliding one low into the net.

The Giants took a 4-2 lead six and a half minutes into the third as Jackson Cressey capitalized on a Cougars defensive zone turnover. Tyler Povelofskie got the Cats within one with his fourth of the season with 11:52 on the clock but that’s as close as the Cougars would come suffering their first loss of the 2012-13 season falling to 6-1.

The Giants remain undefeated at 5-0 and can tie the Cats in the standings with a win today.