Wednesday night in Prince George, the Cougars put over 50 shots on the Red Deer goal, but Patrik Bartosak made 50 saves, and Red Deer scored twice in the shootout to earn a 4-3 victory in Prince George. Zach Pochiro scored twice and added an assist for the Cougars who earned points for a fourth straight game on home ice and now trail Seattle by three points in the race for eighth in the West.

The first 20 minutes resulted in no goals, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. The Cougars outshot Red Deer 17-7, and goaltender Patrik Bartosak came up big in the late stages of the first to keep the game tied.

Early in the second on a power play, the Cougars struck first when Jari Erricson tipped home a Dallas Ehrhardt point shot for his eighth of the season.

Red Deer responded when Joel Hamilton tipped home a pass from Kayle Doetzel from the right wing at the 7:56 mark of the second.

The Cougars then got into some penalty trouble when Carson Bolduc and Dan Gibb were penalized within 24 seconds of each other. Gibb’s penalty was a four minute double-minor for high-sticking, which resulted in a lengthy Red Deer power play.  The Cougars killed off the first two penalties, but Red Deer grabbed the lead at 14:24 when Rhyse Dieno centered a pass to Tyson Ness who beat Engel for his 12^th of the season.

44 seconds later, Zach Pochiro responded for the Cougars with an unassisted goal from the right-wing side. Pochiro’s goal was shot from a sharp angle, and just squeaked through Patrik Bartosak and in for his ninth.

39 seconds later Pochiro pounced on a loose puck at the top of the right circle, and beat Bartosak up high for his 10^th of the season and second of the game.

Early in the third, the Cougars kept pushing, and were rewarded with a full two minutes of five-on-three advantage but were unable to capitalize.

Red Deer responded when Mathew Dumba’s point-shot was tipped home by Christian Stockl to tie the game at three. That goal came with 10:10 gone in the third.

The Cougars responded well, but couldn’t beat Bartosak who made some timely saves in the third to force overtime.

Prince George had another power play chance in overtime, but were unsuccessful, and for a second straight night a shootout would be needed.

Rhyse Dieno was the first shooter for Red Deer and he beat Mac Engel with a backhand to the left side to make it 1-0. Patrik Bartosak then robbed Zach Pochiro with the left pad to keep his team ahead 1-0. Dominik Volek then increased the lead to 2-0 for Red Deer with a nice move to his backhand as well.

Chase Witala needed to score to keep the game going for Prince George, but Patrik Bartosak made one final save, and the Rebels clinched the second point.

Patrik Bartosak finished with 50 saves on 53 shots faced, while Mac Engel stopped 27 of 30 shots faced during regulation and overtime. The Cougars finished the game one-for-seven on the power play while Red Deer went one-for-three.

The Cougars now sit three points back of Seattle with 18 games remaining and a game still in hand. They’ll look to make up some more ground this weekend when they host the Vancouver Giants for two straight games on Friday and Saturday at the CN Centre.