It wasn’t a masterpiece by any stretch but the Prince George Cougars are returning home to Prince George riding a five game winning streak.   They improved their regulation unbeaten streak to eight games following a 6-5 victory Sunday in Vancouver. Chase Witala led the Cougars charge with three goals and an assist and Jansen Harkins scored twice in the third period to break open a 4-4 tie. Alec Baer responded with a goal and two assists for the Giants.

Given the fact that the Vancouver Giants were playing their third game in three nights, it was very important for the Cougars to set the tone early which they did. First it was Justin Almeida, who took an Aaron Boyd pass in the slot and quickly pulled the trigger. His shot made it’s way past Ryan Kubic and in for his first ever WHL goal and a 1-0 Cougars lead.

61 seconds later Chase Witala took a Jesse Gabrielle pass in the neutral zone, raced across the Vancouver blueline and then ripped a high shot over the blocker of Kubic and in for his 11^th of the season. That goal came on just the third Cougars shot of the game and spelled the end of the night for Kubic who was pulled at the 4:06 mark of the first in favor of 16-year-old David Tendeck.

The move seemed to spark the Giants who notched their first goal in the later stages of the first when rookie defenceman Dylan Plouffe snuck a point shot past Cougars netminder Nick McBride and in for his second of the season at the 15:59 mark. After one the Giants held a 13-9 shot advantage, but trailed the Cougars 2-1.

Just 1:19 into the second Vancouver tied the game when Alec Baer snuck a low shot past McBride off the rush from the right wing boards. Baer’s sixth goal of the season was assisted by his linemates Chase Lang and Tyler Benson.

Less than two minutes later the Cougars restored their lead when Chase Witala snuck to the side of the Vancouver net and banged home a Brogan O’Brien pass from behind the net. Witala’s 12^th came on the only Cougars power play chance of the game.

Once again though Vancouver had a quick answer. Chase Lang erased the Cougars lead with his eighth of the season off a terrific three-way passing play that also featured Alec Baer and Brennan Mennell. By the time the puck arrived to Lang at the side of the net, he had the entire open net to shoot at.

Giants captain Tyler Benson then gave the Giants their first (and only) lead of the game at the 11:47 mark of the second when he one-timed home an Alec Baer pass past the right pad of Nick McBride. This time though the Cougars had a fast response, and for a third time in the game it was Chase Witala who supplied the offense.

Less than four minutes after Benson’s goal, Witala took a Brad Morrison pass, cut into the high slot and fired his third goal of the game upstairs on David Tendeck to tie the game at four. Witala’s hat trick is the first of the season for Prince George and the second hat trick of his career.

In the final seconds of the second period the Giants came awfully close to taking the lead back, but Nick McBride dove in desperation to his left and robbed Chase Lang with his glove. It was the biggest of his 33 saves that he made all game. The shots favored Vancouver 29-21 after two periods of play.

McBride’s teammates would reward him for his late heroics in the second with the go-ahead goal at 6:42 of the third period. Cougars defenceman Joe Carvalho raced towards the blueline to keep a Vancouver clearing attempt onside, and then quickly fired a shot towards the goal. The puck deflected off of Jansen Harkins and past Tendeck for his sixth of the season and the Cougars third lead of the game.

Harkins wasn’t done. At the 10:40 mark of the third, he followed up a Brad Morrison rebound and shoveled a backhand shot through Tendeck and in for his second of the game. His goal would stand to be the game winner but not without some late game drama from the Giants.

With the teams skating four-on-four the Giants inched back within a goal when Ty Ronning notched his 18^th of the season off a Chase Lang pass from the right circle. Ronning’s goal came with 2:10 still left on the clock, which meant that the Cougars had to hunker down with some big defensive plays in the final minutes. McBride made a big save off of Tyler Benson in close to keep his team ahead and Vancouver’s late comeback bid fell just short.

Nick McBride made 33 saves on 38 shots faced to improve his record to 5-2-0-1 in nine games since joining the Prince George Cougars.

The final shot tally was 38-27 for Vancouver who are now 0-2 on the season against the Cougars. Both teams only had one power play with the Cougars going one-for-one and the Giants going zero-for-one.

Through 28 games the Cougars record now sits at 17-9-1-1. They’ve won four straight games on the road, five straight games overall and again have now gone eight games without a loss in regulation time.

Now the Cougars will return home for one game on Tuesday against Kootenay before taking the ice for three more games on the road starting Friday in Portland.