The Prince George Cougars kicked off their six-game road trip on a winning note Friday with a 2-1 shootout victory in Seattle against the Thunderbirds. Mac Engel stopped 26 shots through 65 minutes, plus four of the five shootout attempts to earn his second win in a row. Jake Mykitiuk broke the shootout tie with a goal in the back half of the fifth round to clinch the victory.

Seattle led 1-0 after the first period, and for the most part had total control of the first. They outshot the Cougars 8-2 and scored the game’s first goal on a late power play. Taylor Green’s point shot found it’s way through a screen and past Mac Engel to put Seattle ahead. Green’s second of the season was assisted by Seth Swenson and Riley Sheen.

Prince George bounced back with an excellent second period. They outshot Seattle 19-6 and tied the game at 4:42 when Troy Bourke pounced on a Dan Gibb rebound and beat Brandon Glover for his 14^th of the season.

The Cougars continued to apply pressure, but Brandon Glover made several key stops for Seattle including a breakaway save off of Colin Jacobs to keep the game tied at one.

Both goaltenders came up big for their teams in the third period. Mac Engel made a spectacular save off of Seth Swenson from in close while Brandon Glover was equal to the task at the other side.

60 minutes was not enough so overtime was needed. Seattle had a tremendous chance to score, but Mac Engel robbed Shea Theodore. Seattle would get a power play for the final 1:14 of overtime, but were unable to capitalize.

Luke Lockhart kicked off the shootout with a goal for Seattle but Zach Pochiro countered with one for Prince George. Neither team was able to score on their next three opportunities and the shootout was still tied heading into round five.

Mac Engel made a quality save off of Seth Swenson, which set the table for Jake Mykitiuk of the Cougars to try his luck. Mykitiuk raced in on Brandon Glover and beat him with a backhand deke to end the game.

Prince George outshot Seattle 31-27 and though they didn’t score on the power play, they killed off two of Seattle’s three chances, including the chance in overtime.

It was the fourth shootout victory of the season for the Cougars who now improve to 20-38-2-6. Their win coupled with Everett’s loss moves the Cougars back within four points of eighth place with two games still in hand.

The Cougars will look to inch even closer to eighth place tomorrow night when they face the Tri-City Americans in Kennwick, WA.