Friday night in Red Deer, the Prince George Cougars dropped a 6-3 score to the Red Deer Rebels. Wyatt Johnson led the way offensively with two goals for Red Deer while Conner Bleackley and Grayson Pawlenchuk each had two assists. Jari Erricson responded with a goal and an assist for Prince George while Brad Morrison and Tyler Mrkonjic also scored.

For the 11^th time this season, the Prince George Cougars scored the first goal. Tyler Mrkonjic got the visitors on the board at 12:25 of the first period. Jari Erricson won a puck battle behind the Red Deer goal, threw the puck in front to Mrkonjic who beat goaltender Rylan Toth up high for his second goal of the season.

Red Deer answered just under four minutes later on a power play. Evan Polei parked himself in front of the Cougars goal and one-timed home an Adam Musil pass for his fourth of the season.

The Cougars outshot Red Deer 12-8 in the first period.

Early in the second, Jari Erricson restored the lead for the Cougars with his team leading ninth of the season, but 59 seconds later Brett Cote evened the score for the Rebels.

Halfway through the game, the score was tied 2-2 and both teams had their share of opportunities, but Red Deer would strike three times in a 6:33 span to completely turn the tide on the game.

Wyatt Johnson started the damage with back-to-back goals at 12:12 and 16:54, and Tyler Sandhu tallied on the power play to give Red Deer a 5-2 lead after two periods.

Late in the third, Brad Morrison scored his second goal in as many games to give the Cougars a late-game spark, but Grayson Pawlenchuk restored Red Deer’s three goal cushion at the 17:23 mark of the third period, which helped solidify their victory.

The Cougars finished the game zero-for-two on the power play while Red Deer converted on both of their opportunities. The Rebels slightly outshot the Cougars by a 30-27 margin.

With the loss, the Cougars are now an even 7-7 on the season, and will look to get back on a winning track tomorrow in Edmonton when they face the defending Memorial Cup Champions at Rexall Place.