The Prince George now find themselves just three points back of seventh place in the Western Conference after a 5-4 victory Saturday in Lethbridge. The Prince George Cougars struck for three goals in the second period, and were able to withstand a late surge from the Hurricanes to earn their 18^th victory of the season.

Lethbridge struck first on a power play just 29 seconds into the game. Jaimen Yakubowski scored his first of many on the night for Lethbridge off a Russell Maxwell rebound.

Just over one minute later the Cougars would respond on a power play when Klarc Wilson centered a puck on goal from the right wing. Wilson’s centering attempt deflected off of Hurricanes defenseman Ryan Pilon and in for his seventh.

Penalties would end up ruling the period, especially early for the Cougars. The Cougars would end up with six minor penalties in the first 20 minutes, while Lethbridge took four.

Lethbridge had several great chances to score in the first 10 minutes, including 1:36 of five-on-three power play time. Cougars goaltender Mac Engel was up to the task though, turning aside 15 of the 16 shots thrown his way in the first. His best stop came on a Lethbridge power play when he dove across his goal-crease and batted a Ryan Pilon shot down with the paddle of his stick to keep the game tied 1-1.

After killing off a series of penalties, the Cougars were rewarded with a power play of their own, and once again Klarc Wilson found the back of the net. Troy Bourke did a great job to wrap the puck around the goal to the right side, and then found Wilson back-door for his eighth of the season.

Though they were outshot 16-10 in the first, the Cougars led 2-1.

The teams continued to trade chances through the first 10 minutes of the second, but both Ty Rimmer and Mac Engel made the necessary saves. That all changed though after the mid-way point of the period when the Cougars once again went on the power play.

Zach Pochiro finished off a Jari Erricson pass from the slot area for his 12^th of the season. Troy Bourke made it 4-1 just over three minutes later when he, Pochiro and Erricson combined efforts. Colin Jacobs then rounded out the scoring at 17:11 when he stole the puck from the Lethbridge defender and beat Ty Rimmer with a low backhand shot for his team-leading 22^nd. Jacobs goal would ultimately end up as the game winner.

Prince George took a 5-1 lead into the third, while the shots on goal were all square at 29. It also spelt the end of the night for Hurricanes netminder Ty Rimmer who was pulled after 40 minutes.

The third period would belong to Lethbridge forward Jaimen Yakubowski who scored three more times for the Hurricanes, and single-handedly gave his team a chance to win the game. Yakubowski’s goals came at 4:25, 10:20 and 19:14 of the third period giving him 32 on the season.

Fortunately Mac Engel and the Cougars were able to hang on to the win from there. Lethbridge outshot the Cougars 39-35, but ended up on the losing end of the special teams battle, which Cougars head coach Mark Holick considered a major turning point of the game.

Prince George finished three-for-six on the power play while Lethbridge went one-for-six on their tries. Klarc Wilson, Colin Jacobs, Troy Bourke, Jari Erricson and Zach Pochiro all recorded multi-point games for the Cougars.

With Seattle beating Everett on Saturday, the Cougars (18-33-2-6) stay within three points of the Thunderbirds, and also the Silvertips.

The Cougars will look to extend their winning ways on Monday afternoon when they face the Edmonton Oil Kings.