Saturday night in Prince George, the Cougars dropped a 5-3 decision the Vancouver Giants. Cain Franson had a goal and two assists while Jackson Houck added a goal and an assist for Vancouver. Prince George responded with two points each from Marc McNulty, Alex Forsberg and Todd Fiddler. At one point the Giants led 3-0, but the Cougars were able to tie the game before ultimately dropping the 5-3 score.

12:25 into the game Vancouver had established a 3-0 lead. Jackson Houck got Vancouver on the board at 3:52 when he grabbed a bouncing puck beside the net and lifted one over Ty Edmonds’ glove. Blake Orban then made it 2-0 at 11:09 when he snuck in from the right point and capitalized off a Joel Hamilton shot. Daulton Thrower then made it 3-0 1:16 later and the Giants were well on their way.

But this season the Cougars have made a habit out of coming back from big deficits and tonight’s was no exception. Marc McNulty started the comeback at 13:16 of the first on a power play. McNulty’s point shot found it’s way through traffic and past Jared Rathjen for McNulty’s sixth of the season.

Vancouver outshot the Cougars 20-7 and took the 3-1 lead into the first intermission.

Early in the second the Cougars inched a little closer when Alex Forsberg deflected home a Marc McNulty point shot for his fifth goal of the season. For Forsberg it’s his second goal in as many games, and the Cougars were back in business.

Sam Ruopp completed the Cougars comeback at 5:01 when he kept a puck in at the right point, moved to the middle and fired a shot through traffic and in for his second of the season.

The Cougars kept the pedal down and nearly took the 4-3 lead. But Jared Rathjen made some timely saves and kept the Giants on even footing.

Vancouver grabbed the lead back at 14:05 of the second when Tim Traber and Thomas Foster combined on a nice rush down the ice. Foster centered the puck through a maze of sticks and Tim Traber made no mistake from the right wing for his sixth of the season.

After two periods the Giants led 4-3 and were outshooting the Cougars 37-22.

Early in the third the Cougars had some chances, but Jared Rathjen continued his strong play. His best save came off a two-on-one rush when Klarc Wilson fed Alex Forsberg in front of the net, but Forsberg was denied by the glove of Rathjen and the game remained at 4-3.

With the net empty, the Cougars had one final push, but Marc McNulty fired a shot just wide of the far post, and back came the Giants and Cain Franson wrapped up the game with an empty netter.

For the Giants it was their 12th victory of the season and their fourth of the season against Prince George. The Cougars fought valiantly despite being badly outmanned for a second straight game. The Cougars were minus eight regulars in their lineup, but still managed to stay stride-for-stride with the Giants both nights.

The Cougars record now sits at 11-16-1-3. They now trail the eighth placed Giants by four points in the Western Conference standings and will look to inch a little closer next weekend when they welcome the Tri-City Americans for two games next weekend.