Cougars Earn A Point in a Controversial Shootout Loss to Everett.
Like it or not, the shootout is here to stay. Some nights you’ll win, some nights you’ll lose, and some nights you will even see a shooter get two opportunities in the same shootout. Friday night in Prince George, the fans were treated to 65-minutes plus of exciting back-and-forth action between two Western Conference Rivals. The Silvertips prevailed 3-2 in a shootout that can only be described as controversial.
After dictating the play for a majority of the first period, the Prince George Cougars were rewarded in the final minute. Zach Pochiro made a sensational move to deke past an Everett defender and put a shot on goal. Austin Lotz stopped Pochiro’s initial attempt, but Chase Witala deflected home Zach Pochiro’s rebound attempt to give the home team a 1-0 cushion. The shots were 12-5 Prince George after one period.
Back came Everett in the second thanks in large part to Cougars penalties. Marc McNulty went off for a high-sticking double minor, and shortly before the second McNulty minor was about to expire, Zach Pochiro went off for tripping giving Everett a brief five-on-three power play.
At 11:21 the Silvertips made the Cougars pay with the five-on-three when Ivan Nikolishin and Joshua Winquist combined on a one-timer. For Winquist it was his seventh of the season and fourth against the Cougars so far this season.
Just over two minutes later the Cougars answered back with a power play marker of their own. Zach Pochiro raced down the right wing and tried to center a pass to Alex Forsberg. Pochiro’s pass deflected in off an Everett defender and the Cougars had restored their one-goal lead.
32 seconds later Everett countered with a goal on a point shot from Mirco Mueller. Mueller’s point shot found its way through traffic for his first of the season. The Cougars and Silvertips combined for three goals in a span of two minutes and 38 seconds.
Neither team was able to capitalize in the third period, and overtime also solved nothing. For the first time this season the Cougars went to a shootout, and here’s where things took a turn for the worse.
Joshua Winquist opened the scoring in the shootout for Everett on a backhand deke. Zach Pochiro responded with an apparent goal for the Prince George Cougars.
After signaling that a goal had been scored, the referee skated to both benches and explained that apparently the Everett net had been dislodged during Pochiro’s first attempt.
That meant Pochiro had to shoot again, and this time he was not so lucky. Austin Lotz turned him away giving Everett the 1-0 shootout advantage.
Chase Witala would eventually tie the shootout for the Cougars in round two, but the next shootout goal wouldn’t’ come until round five.
Carson Stadnyk was able to stuff home a backhand shot underneath the pads of Ty Edmonds to give Everett the 2-1 shootout lead, and Jansen Harkins was denied by Austin Lotz to give Everett the 3-2 shootout victory.
The Cougars outshot Everett 32-30, and finished one-for-four on the power play. Everett went one-for-six on their power play chances, and became the first team in five games to score a power play goal against the Cougars.
The win improves Everett’s record to 6-1-1 this season while the Cougars now sit at 4-4-0-1. The Cougars will take the single point though, and will hope to return to the favor on Saturday night when these teams meet again at the CN Centre.
Comments
That was a good game last night! The referees were rather incompetent though.
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