The Prince George Cougars are coming home with four of four possible points from their Okanagan double-header. After a 4-3 victory in Kelowna Friday, the Cougars followed up that effort with a 6-3 victory in Kamloops. Jansen Harkins led the way with two goals and two assists while Marc McNulty chimed in with a goal, two assists and a third period fight to secure the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Ty Edmonds stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced in goal for his second straight win.

McNulty kickstarted the Cougars offense at the 10:54 mark of the first period on a power play. McNulty took a pass at the right point, and fired a low slap shot that found it’s way through traffic and in for his second goal of the weekend and fourth goal of the season.

The Cougars took that 1-0 lead into the first intermission and were outshooting Kamloops 13-9 after one.

Early in the second, the Cougars continued to apply strong offensive pressure and would be rewarded for their efforts at 3:09 when Zach Pochiro crashed the net hard and buried a Chase Witala centering pass for his third of the season.

Kamloops got on the board at 8:36 on a power play of their own. After Ty Edmonds made two quality saves off of Cole Ully, and Matt Needham, the rebound came back out to the point and Fora snuck a low shot through traffic and in for his fourth of the season. There was a lengthy delay after the goal because of Teddy Bear Toss, which helped the Cougars because it took away any of the Blazers momentum.

Moments after play had resumed, the Cougars went up by a 3-1 score when Jansen Harkins took a Marc McNulty pass at the right circle, out-waited goaltender Cole Kehler and snuck a shot in through his pads for his eighth of the season and first of two on the night.

Tate Olson then added to the Cougars lead at 13:30 of the second period. Jansen Harkins started the play by showing some terrific patience at the left point, and then fed a pass across the ice to Olson who did the rest, getting his shot through traffic and in for his third of the season.

Matt Revel got Kamloops back within two with a late second period power play goal. But the Cougars took a 4-2 lead into the second intermission, and outshot Kamloops 26-17 after two periods.

5:47 into the third, Matt Needham got the Blazers back within one when he snuck a puck past the left leg of Ty Edmonds from the side of the Cougars goal. Needham’s goal also came via the power play, and all of a sudden the Blazers had some life.

Kamloops then thought they’d tied it a few minutes later, but Jake Kryski’s stick was clearly above the crossbar when he batted a puck out of the air and in, and the goal was immediately disallowed.

Jansen Harkins restored the Cougars two-goal lead off a two-on-one rush with Aaron Macklin late in the third. Chance Braid got the play started with a nice pass to Macklin, and then Macklin centered the pass for Harkins who made no mistake.

31 seconds later the Cougars rounded out their scoring when Chance Braid grabbed a Jansen Harkins rebound and snuck it past the right pad of Cole Kehler for his seventh goal of the season.

With the game all but over, Marc McNulty completed his Gordie Howe Hatrick when he dropped the gloves with Blazer forward Quinn Benjafield.

The final shot totals favored the Cougars: 35-29.  Prince George finished the game one-for-five on the power play while Kamloops went three-for-seven on their opportunities.

With the win, the Cougars are now back even at 15-15 and once again find themselves in the top three of the B.C. Division standings. It also marks the first time this season that they’ve won back-to-back games of a double-header on the road this season.

Next up for the Cougars, Teddy Bear Toss on Tuesday night at home against Saskatoon, and tickets are selling quickly!