Saturday night in Spokane the Prince George Cougars dropped a hard fought 3-2 decision to the Spokane Chiefs. Liam Stewart broke open a 2-2 tie with 6:04 left in the third period to help clinch Spokane’s victory. The Cougars got goals from Joe Carvalho and Marc McNulty.

The Cougars started strongly by controlling the play in the Spokane zone. They outshot the Chiefs 5-0 early on, and were it not for some timely goaltending from Chiefs goalie Garret Hughson, the score could have easily been two or three nothing early on.

Hudson Elynuik then got the Chiefs on the board with his first of the season at 9:16 when he knocked home an Evan Fiala rebound. Elynuik’s goal was greeted with a massive amount of Teddy Bears flying onto the ice from the stands.

After the Teddy Bear delay Spokane increased their lead by 2-0 when Adam Helewka knocked home a Markson Bechtold pass off a two-on-one rush. For Helewka it was his 16^th of the season.

Back came the Cougars though with a late push in the first. They continued to control the play territorially but just could not solve Hughson. However their efforts would be rewarded late in the period when Joe Carvalho took a Marc McNulty pass in the high slot and blasted a point shot through traffic and past Garret Hughson for his first goal of the season.

The Cougars went into the first intermission outshooting Spokane 11-5 but trailing 2-1.

Marc McNulty changed that at the 7:18 mark of the second period. Colby McAuley started the play by winning the puck free along the left wing wall. He then found Mcnulty at the top of the left circle, and from there the 6’6” Red Wings prospect did the rest. He took one stride and then wired a wrist shot over Hughson’s glove and in for his fifth goal of the season.

The teams then continued to trade chances for the remainder of the second, but both Hughson and Cougars starter Ty Edmonds were razor sharp. Edmonds made an incredible save off of Kailer Yamamoto off a two-on-one and also stopped Adam Helewka on a breakaway to keep the Cougars tied.

Spokane came out firing in the third outshooting the Cougars 6-0 in the early stages. Ty Edmonds though continued to come up with timely saves when called upon.

Liam Stewart finally solved Edmonds on a redirection at the side of the Cougars goal. Prior to Stewart’s tally, Edmonds made a trio of big-time saves. But the Cougars were unable to clear the zone, and Stewart would eventually sneak one past Edmonds and in for his 11^th of the season.

Credit the Cougars for never giving up, and they made the Chiefs like very difficult for the remainder of the game. But Garret Hughson made a handful of timely saves in the final minutes of the game to clinch the victory for Spokane.

Spokane outshot the Cougars 31-25. Neither team was able to capitalize on their power play opportunities. The Cougars went zero-for-one and the Chiefs went zero-for-two.

With the loss, the Cougars record now sits at 17-16. They are still ranked third in the B.C. Division and sixth in the West. They return home winners of four their last five, and they’ll get another shot at the Spokane Chiefs on Tuesday night at home.