The Prince George Cougars and Victoria Royals are now dead even in the standing through 44 games and will head into the weekend tied for second in the Western Conference and the B.C. Division. A day after defeating the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-2 the Cougars fell 4-0 in their rematch Wednesday. Cavin Leth had two goals for Seattle and Landon Bow made 26 saves for his third shutout of the season. Ty Edmonds made 24 saves on 27 shots faced at the other end and was named the game’s third star for Prince George. All four of Seattle’s goals came in the final period.

The first 40 minutes of the game solved nothing. In the first the Cougars outshot the T-Birds 10-5 but Bow kept the game scoreless thanks to some big saves off of Brad Morrison and Jesse Gabrielle.

Seattle outshot the Cougars 14-7 in the second period, but both goaltenders kept their respective teams in the game. Edmonds made a phenomenal stop off of Cavin Leth and at the other side Bow made a sliding save off of Justin Almeida on a two-on-one to keep things even.

Just 13 seconds into the final period Seattle took their first lead of the week when Cavin Leth knocked home a Scott Eansor pass from in close on Edmonds. Leth then grabbed his second of the night and ninth of the season on a Seattle power play chance at 14:06.

Ryan Gropp and Jerret Smith would add late goals for the T-Birds who earned their 23^rd victory of the season. The loss moves the Cougars record to 26-16-1-1. Seattle outshot the Cougars by a slim 28-26 margin, and the Cougars finished zero-for-seven on the power play and four-for-five killing penalties.

Next up for the Cougars: A trip to Vancouver where they’ll start a two-game B.C. Division road trip when they clash with the Vancouver Giants on Saturday at 5:00 PM.