Despite a banner night offensively for the trio of Jansen Harkins, Brad Morrison and Aaron Macklin, the Prince George Cougars were on the wrong end of a 5-4 setback to the Spokane Chiefs Tuesday night at home. Spokane scored three unanswered goals in the second period to erase a 3-2 deficit, and held off the surging Cougars in the third period to earn the victory. The trio of Harkins, Morrison and Macklin finished with nine combined points, and factored in on all four Cougar goals.

Spokane drew first blood at the 2:01 mark of the first period. An errant pass in the Cougars zone was picked off by Chiefs forward Hudson Elynuik who skated in alone on Ty Edmonds and ripped a wrist shot past his glove for his second goal in as many games.

Brad Morrison got the Cougars on the board with his 12^th of the season at the 14:38 mark of the period. Aaron Macklin started the play with a terrific pass to Jansen Harkins from behind the Spokane net. Then from the right wing, Harkins centered a pass through traffic to Morrison who knocked it home for his 11^th goal of the season. For Morrison it was his 22^nd point of the season and a new season high for points. That trio was just getting started.

Six seconds later the Chiefs got their lead back. Right off the faceoff, Dominic Zwerger grabbed the puck, skated wide down the left wing side, and lifted a shot past the blocker of Edmonds and in for his sixth of the season.

But back came the Cougars with a quick response of their own. 1:42 later Jansen Harkins tied the score with a workman-like goal. He skated down the right wing, and fired a shot towards the goal that was deflected wide. Harkins won the race for the puck behind the goal and centered the puck towards the goal crease, and the puck deflected off of Garret Hughson and in for Harkins 11^th of the season. His goal was unassisted.

But wait, 24 seconds later the Cougars struck again. And guess who? It was Harkins who knocked home a Brad Morrison pass off a two-on-one rush, and in the blink of an eye the Cougars led by a 3-2 score.

Prince George went into the tunnel up 3-2 and outshooting the Chiefs 12-10.

It was a different story in the second period. Spokane struck three times in the final 10 minutes of the period. First it was Calder Brooks who knocked home a Jason Fram rebound at 11:24, and then Liam Stewart grabbed the lead back for Spokane with a power play marker shortly thereafter at 13:56. Kailer Yamamoto then extended the Chiefs lead with a breakaway goal at 17:15 to make it 5-3 after two.

Territorially the Cougars dictated the third period, outshooting the Chiefs 18-5. Garret Hughson stood his ground between the pipes for Spokane and the Cougars headed into the final stretch still down two.

Brad Morrison got the Cougars a tad closer with his second of the night at 17:51 mark of the third. Once again Aaron Macklin and Jansen Harkins helped create the scoring chance, and with just shy of two minutes remaining the Cougars were back within a goal.

Unfortunately for the home side, that’s as close as it would get. Spokane held on to earn their 17^th victory of the season. The final shots were: 42-30 for Prince George.

The Cougars are now an even 17-17-0-0 on the season while the Chiefs are 17-12-3-0.  These two teams will meet for a third straight game tomorrow night at CN Centre, the final home game for the Cougars in 2014.