The Prince George Cougars came home down 2-0 in their series with Victoria needing a victory, and on Wednesday night in front of 4202 rabid fans they did not disappoint. Sam Ruopp and Jari Erricson each had a goal and an assist for the Cougars en route to a 4-2 victory in Game 3 of their best-of-seven series with the Royals. Chase Witala added his third goal of the series for the Cougars and Brad Morrison’s goal at 6:06 of the third period helped secure the Cougars first playoff victory in nearly eight full calendar years.

After one period the Cougars led 1-0 thanks to terrific shorthanded marker from Chase Witala. Off a two-on-two rush, Witala raced wide on the defender, skated in close and roofed a shot over the right shoulder of Coleman Vollrath and in for his third of the series. The Cougars outshot the Royals 14-5 in the first period, and were full marks in all areas of the ice.

2:22 into the second the Cougars red-hot power play struck for a sixth time in the series. Zach Pochiro’s point shot was stopped by Vollrath, but Jari Erricson pounced on the rebound and lifted it over top of Vollrath and in for his first goal of the 2014-15 playoffs.

Sam Ruopp would then add a goal at the 7:58 mark of the second to push the Cougars lead to 3-0 and the Cougars appeared to be in complete control. But the Victoria Royals refused to go away.

First it was Tyler Soy who knocked home a Jack Walker rebound on a power play at the 13:22 mark of the second, and then 44 seconds later Logan Fisher snuck home his first of the playoffs off an Alex Forsberg rebound to draw the Royals back to within a single goal.

The game stayed at 3-2 until the 6:06 mark of third when David Soltes and Brad Morrison combined to move the Cougars back ahead by two goals. Jari Erricson did a great job preventing a Victoria clearing attempt, he found Soltes down low who then centered a beautiful pass to Brad Morrison who did the rest, knocking home his first of the playoffs.

Ty Edmonds made a couple of clutch saves down the stretch, and in the final seconds the crowd of 4202 strong all rose to their feet and applauded loudly as the Cougars clinched their first victory in the best-of-seven series.

Each team went one-for-four on the power play, but the Cougars badly outshot the Royals by a 42-24 mark. The Cougars will now look to draw even in their first round series when they host the Royals tomorrow night for Game 4. The victory on Wednesday ensures that at the very least the Cougars will be heading to Victoria for Game 5 on Saturday night from Vancouver Island.