The Prince George Cougars earned three of four possible points this weekend against the Victoria Royals. After a 6-2 win on Friday, the Cougars dropped a 2-1 decision in a shootout to Victoria on Saturday. Dallas Ehrhardt tied the game at one late in the third for the Cougars, but Alex Gogolev clinched the win for Victoria in the fourth round of the shootout.

After a scoreless first period the Victoria Royals drew first blood at 5:41 of the second period. Jordan Fransoo took a shot from the right point that Mac Engel stopped, but the rebound went straight to Alex Gogolev at the side of the goal, and he made no mistake for his 19^th of the season.

Shortly thereafter, Jake Mykitiuk and Jack Walker got into a scrap which seemed to spark the Cougars bench. The back-half of the second period was largely controlled by the Cougars, who had several chances to score, but Patrik Polivka was strong for Victoria keeping them ahead 1-0.

It was more of the same in the third, as the Cougars outshot Victoria 13-5. They had some early power play opportunities, but Victoria did a great job of blocking shots, and when the pucks did get through, Patrik Polivka was there.

With less than two minutes to go, the Cougars were finally rewarded offensively when Dallas Ehrhardt picked off a loose puck off the boards, and fired a shot towards the goal. The shot caught Polivka off guard, and beat him up high, and the Cougars were back in business. For Ehrhardt it was his second goal in as many games.

Overtime would ultimately solve nothing, and a shootout would be required.

Neither team was able to score on their first three opportunities as Caleb Belter, Zach Pochiro and Troy Bourke missed for the Cougars while Steven Hodges, Brandon Magee and Jamie Crooks were unable to beat Mac Engel.

Colin Jacobs missed the fourth attempt for the Cougars, which set the stage for Alex Gogolev. Gogolev raced in on Mac Engel and made a move to the forehand, and roofed one off the post and in to give Victoria the 2-1 win.

The Cougars outshot the Royals 39-29, and neither team was able to score on the power play.

Thanks to some late game heroics from Tri-City and Kamloops, the Prince George Cougars (16-30-2-5) remain just four points back of Seattle and six points back of Everett in the race for a playoff spot in the Western Conference with 19 games remaining in their regular season.

After four games in five nights, the Cougars will get a day of rest before they return to practice in preparation for the Red Deer Rebels on Wednesday night at the CN Centre.