Saturday afternoon in Prince George in front of a season-high 4042 spectators, the Cougars earned a single-point in a 7-6 shootout loss to the Edmonton Oil Kings. At one point the Cougars led 6-2, but Edmonton countered with four unanswered goals in the third period en route to victory. Todd Fiddler had three goals and an assist for Prince George. Reid Petryk countered with two goals for the Oil Kings.

Fresh off an 8-0 win a night ago, Edmonton wasted no time in getting the offense started. Reid Petryk pounced on a defensive turnover and notched his 12th of the season to give Edmonton a 1-0 cushion.

Less than a minute later, the Cougars countered with one of their own. Off an Edmonton turnover at their own blueline, Jordan Tkatch stole it, raced ahead and beat Tristan Jarry on a breakaway for his 12th of the season to even the score.

The rest of the first period belonged to the Cougars. First Todd Fiddler gave the Cougars the lead at 6:05 when he raced down the left wing on a two-on-one and roofed one over the left shoulder of Tristan Jarry. Marc McNulty then followed up with a backhand goal from the high slot thanks to a gorgeous pass from Troy Bourke. Todd Fiddler then completed the first period scoring with a power play marker at 19:08.

Despite being outshot 15-9, the Cougars led 4-1 through the opening 20 minutes.

Curtis Lazar moved Edmonton back within two just 1:57 into the second, but thanks to some untimely Edmonton penalties towards the end of the period, the Cougars responded with two late tallies to help extend their lead.

First it was Marc McNulty who beat Jarry with a low shot right off a face-off. Todd Fiddler then completed his hat-trick when he one-timed home a Troy Bourke pass for his third of the game, and his fifth hat-trick since joining the Cougars in early November.

Heading into the second intermission the Cougars were ahead 6-2 and appeared to be in full control. They even forced the Oil Kings to pull star netminder Tristan Jarry after two periods. That all changed at 2:55 of the third period when Cody Corbett made it 6-3 on a power play. 38 seconds later Riley Kieser banged home a Luke Bertolucci rebound to pull the Oil Kings back within two.

Reid Petryk notched his second of the game at 7:21 on a power play, and all of a sudden the Oil Kings had full momentum. They would complete the comeback at 14:02 of the third when Edgars Kulda stole the puck along the right wing wall, and deked out Edmonds for his 17th of the season.

Neither team could find the back of the net in overtime, and for a ninth time this season the Prince George Cougars would require a shootout.

After Troy Bourke missed his chance, Henrik Samuelsson scored to give Edmonton the 1-0 shootout edge. Jordan Tkatch then fumbled his attempt from in close, but Reid Petryk was unable to extend Edmonton’s lead.

Todd Fiddler was the third Cougars shooter, and though he made a great move to the backhand, he fired it high and wide, meaning the Oil Kings stole the second point up for grabs.

Prince George finished the night three-for-nine on the power play, while Edmonton succeeded on two of their three chances. The final shot tally had Edmonton with 43, and Prince George with 25.

The single point moves the Cougars overall record to 17-24-2-5, and inches them back within three points of the eighth placed Tri-City Americans in the Western Conference playoff race.

Next up for the Cougars, the Lethbridge Hurricanes on Tuesday, January 21st.