Prince George, B.C. – For a second straight Friday the Prince George Cougars clawed their way back from a third period deficit to win a hockey game.

Tate Olson scored at 8:12 of the third period to move the Cougars back to even terms with Lethbridge, and Chase Witala buried the game winner just over four minutes later to lift the Cougars 4-2 over the Lethbridge Hurricanes. Cougars captain Sam Ruopp added a goal and an assist for the Cougars and goaltender Nick McBride was superb stopping 33 of the 35 shots he faced to earn the victory in net.

Just a minute and 26 seconds into the hockey game, Colby McAuley raced wide on the Lethbridge defense, cut towards the goal and stuffed a low shot past the right pad of Jayden Sittler and in for his second goal of the season. 1-0 Cougars.

Back came Lethbridge with a series of shots and chances, but Nick McBride stood his ground and made a string of big time early saves to keep his team ahead.

Late in the period the Cougars thought they had taken a 2-0 lead when Chase Witala appeared to score on the power play. But the red light never went on, and though the puck appeared to cross the line via the replay, the officials ruled that there had been accidental contact with the goaltender and the goal didn’t count.

Lethbridge outshot the Cougars 13-10 in the first but the Cougars took the 1-0 lead into the first intermission.

6:10 into the second period the Hurricanes got on the board when rookie Brett Davis snuck a low backhand shot through the legs of Nick McBride and in for his first ever WHL goal. Then on a power play Lethbridge took a 2-1 lead when Justin Gutierrez one-timed home a Kord Pankewicz pass from the slot for his fifth of the season.

The second period was highlighted by two spirited fights. The first of which featured Cougars defenceman Shane Collins and Lethbridge forward Riley Lindgren. Moments later Cougars forward Kolby Johnson got the better of Hurricanes defenceman Igor Merezhko. Despite heading into the second intermission down 2-1 the Cougars had many reasons to feel good about their game to that point. They were physical, they had plenty of scoring chances and their goaltender continued to make timely saves to keep them within striking distance.

They’d be rewarded for all of those things at the 8:12 mark of the third period when Tate Olson’s shot from the left point snuck it’s way through Sittler and home for his second goal of the 2015-16 campaign.

Hurricanes captain Tyler Wong came eerily to restoring Lethbridge’s lead on the next shift, but Nick McBride made a tremendous left pad save when he appeared to be down and out, and the Hurricanes captain was denied.

The stage was then set for Chase Witala who had been denied of a goal earlier in the game after it was disallowed in the first period. Just over four minutes after the equalizer, Chase Witala raced by Andrew Nielsen down the right wing. He then cut in front of the Lethbridge goal and tucked home a shot past a sprawled Sittler for his seventh goal of the season, and the Cougars once again had the lead with the score 3-2.

Lethbridge would have one final chance to tie it thanks to a late power play, but the Cougars were able to weather the storm and would end up putting the game away while shorthanded. At the 18:50 mark of the third, Sam Ruopp send a high backhand down the ice from his own zone and the puck had enough juice on it to slide across the goal line and into the empty net with Lethbridge up six skaters to four. For the Cougars it was their league high seventh shorthanded goal of the season.

On the whole the Cougars power play went one-for-four while the power play went zero-for-two. The final shots were 35-24 for Lethbridge.

With the victory the Cougars improved their overall record to 11-9-1-0 and their road record to 3-6-1-0. They became just the second team all season to hand the Hurricanes a loss on their home soil.

Next up for the Cougars: A date with the Medicine Hat Tigers on Saturday which will wrap up the Cougars four game road trip.