Prince George, B.C. — The Cariboo Cougars once again failed to beat their arch rivals the Vancouver NorthWest Giants in a 6-2 loss on home ice Saturday at CN Centre.

Despite outshooting the Giants 35-30, the Cougars could not overcome a poor defensive first period which saw the defending BCMML champions score three times.

The Cats got on the board early in the second with Braiden Epp’s 15th goal of the season from Scott Cullen. Epp then blasted a slapshot past Giants goaltender Bo Didur on the power play less than three minutes later for his second multi-goal game in his last three to pull his team within one.

But the Giants scored a power play goal of their own at the 11:19 mark of the second and then Jarid Lukosevicius earned his second of the game a minute and a half later to restore the three goal lead.

The Giants then added another in the third handing the Cats their third straight loss on home ice and third loss in their last five.

Nathan Warren made 24 saves suffering his fifth loss of the season. The Cougars record falls to 17-6 as they look for the weekend split Sunday to avoid a season series sweep by the Giants.

Puckdrop for the final regular season matchup between the two is set for 9:15am Sunday at the Prince George Coliseum. The game will be available live at cariboocougars.ca.