After four meetings in the past 10 days, the Prince George Cougars finally get a bit of a break (but hopefully not too long of one) from the Kelowna Rockets. Tuesday night in Kelowna, the Rockets scored six times in the second period en route to a 9-5 victory over the Cougars. Tyrell Goulbourne had three goals for Kelowna while Marek Tvrdon chimed in with a goal and three assists. Todd Fiddler paced the Cougars with a goal and three assists on the other end.

Despite the lopsided score in the end, the first period was very even and ended with a 1-1 tie. Tyrell Goulbourne got the scoring started just 47 seconds into the game off a two-on-one, but the Cougars tied the score at 14:26 when Sam Ruopp’s point shot deflected off a Rockets defender and in for his fourth of the season. The Cougars outshot Kelowna 14-9 in the first period.

The second period a much different story. The teams combined for nine goals, six of which came courtesy of the Rockets. In a span of 2:39, the Rockets had a 4-1 lead thanks to goals from Nick Merkley, Damon Severson and Marek Tvrdon. After the third Kelowna goal, Cougars goaltender Ty Edmonds was pulled in favor of Brett Zarowny, who appeared in his first game since November 22nd, 2013 in Edmonton.

Back came the Cougars though with two power play goals. First Klarc Wilson tipped home a Troy Bourke point shot for his 26th of the season, and then Todd Fiddler knocked home a one-timer for his 42nd, and the Cougars were back within a goal.

Kelowna restored their two goal lead thanks to a power play marker from Kris Schmidli at 13:16, and then followed with two more goals from Justin Kirkland and Nick Merkley in just over four minutes to give the Rockets a 7-3 lead.

Troy Bourke responded for Prince George with just over a minute remaining in the period to send the Cougars into the second intermission down 7-4.

Ty Edmonds returned to the net for the Cougars in the third period, but his fortunes didn’t change much. Early in the third Tyrell Goulbourne notched his second of the game off a two-on-one rush, and would then complete his hat-trick at the 13:05 mark of the final period. Jordan Tkatch scored the game’s final goal for the Cougars at 17:38 of the final period.

The final shots were 48-32 for Kelowna. The Cougars ended up two-for-six on the power play, while Kelowna went one-for-three on their power play chances.

The loss moves the Cougars record to 26-32-3-5 and keeps them within a single point of the Tri-City Americans for eighth place in the Western Conference with only six games remaining in their schedule. Tri-City has 10 games remaining and are back in action tonight when they host the Kelowna Rockets.

Next up for the Cougars, a weekend double-header with the Victoria Royals on Friday and Saturday at the CN Centre.