After all of last night’s theatrics, the Prince George Cougars and Vancouver Giants will meet once final time tonight at the CN Centre. After six straight games where the visiting team had won, the Cougars finally bucked that trend with a dramatic 5-4 shootout victory. The Cougars victory coupled with the Tri-City Americans loss to Seattle moved the Cougars magic number to 5 in order to clinch a playoff spot and 7 to clinch third place in the B.C. Division. Meaning any combination of five Cougar victories and Tri-City losses would help the Cougars earn a berth into the WHL’s second season and any combination of seven Cougars victories and Kamloops losses gives them a top-three spot. Tonight they’ll look to inch a little closer to both of those areas when they clash with a hungry Giants team that is anxious to avenge last night’s loss.

VANCOUVER GIANTS

Overview:

Lorne Molleken’s Vancouver Giants are coming into tonight’s game with an overall record of 23-34-5-3. Their 54 points put them 10^th in the West and fifth in the B.C. Division. They trail eighth place by 13 points with only 14 available points remaining to them in their season. This season the Giants are 2-4-0-1 against the Cougars but to their credit have grabbed five of six available points in games played at the CN Centre.

Who’s Up Front:

In six games against the Cougars this season, forward Alec Baer has led the charge offensively for the Giants with six goals and four assists for 10 points. Last night, Baer had a goal and two assists and was named the game’s second star in the building. Baer is now one goal shy of 20 for the season, and the draft eligible forward from St. Louis Park, MN is hoping to hear his name called in the 2016 NHL Draft in the later rounds thanks to a strong third season in the WHL. The Cougars will certainly look to avoid poking the ‘Baer’ in tonight’s game.

Who’s on D:

Defensively the Giants weren’t afraid to rotate through all six of their defensemen regularly in last night’s game. Sure a bulk of the minutes were occupied from the likes of Brennan Menell, Dmitry Osipov and Ben Thomas, but youngsters like Ryan Jones, Dylan Plouffe and even Bailey Dhaliwal got regular playing time. But down the stretch it’s going to be very important that the veterans on the Giants’ back-end lead the charge with their leadership and their strong play. Thomas scored his eighth goal of the season, and Menell added an assist and now has 11 points in seven games against the Giants this season.

Who’s in Goal:

Giants goaltender Ryan Kubic made his mark in the shootout for Vancouver as he turned aside five of the six Cougar attempts and made some timely stops late in the game off of Chase Witala to keep Vancouver tied or ahead. For the season, Kubic holds a 2-2-0-1 record against the Cougars with a .887 save percentage and a 3.91 goals-against average. Lorne Molleken may very well decide to give his number one guy a rest tonight in favor of 18-year-old Jake Morrissey who is 1-2 on the season in six appearances for the Vancouver Giants. His last taste of action was Saturday in Kamloops where he stopped 25 of the 28 shots he faced in a 4-2 loss to the Kamloops Blazers on the road.

X-Factor:

It’s very important for the Giants to come back tonight with a strong mental attitude. It’s got to be somewhat discouraging for a team to lose a game that they never trailed in, but that’s exactly what happened to the Giants Tuesday in Prince George. Offensively they were opportunistic and they can certainly take some positives into tonight’s rematch. Sometimes all you can do is control your work ethic, and Lorne Molleken and his coaching staff are no doubt going to be preaching effort, hustle and heart to his young club as they will once again look to play the role of spoiler for the Cougars and their push towards the post season.

PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS

Overview:

Mark Holick’s Prince George Cougars are coming into tonight’s game with an overall record of 34-26-3-1. They 72 points gives them a five point and three win improvement on last season with eight games still remaining. A victory tonight for the Cougars would match their third highest win total in franchise history and would also give them their 20^th victory on home ice. They are now 3-6-1-0 in their past 10 and have won two of their past three games altogether. This season the Cougars are 5-2 against the Giants and are 1-2 against them at CN Centre.

Who’s Up Front:

Jesse Gabrielle buried his team leading 39^th goal while Chase Witala struck twice to give him 38 goals while also inching within six points of surpassing Troy Bourke for the franchise’s all-time leading point total.  Witala also had the shootout winner in Round 6 of the shootout which is significant considering he was the only player to score a goal on 12 shootout attempts combined between the two clubs. Don’t forget about Brad Morrison who had two assists for the Cougars in the second period and was named the game’s third star.

Who’s on D:

The Prince George Cougars got a major boost defensively with the return of 19-year-olds Sam Ruopp and Shaun Dosanjh. Ruopp is the Cougars captain, and his presence was felt positively in all areas of the ice as he does such a great job of calming things down, while defending his own zone with a great ferocity and confidence. Meanwhile Dosanjh did a great job moving the puck, taking the body and defending his own zone. There’s no substitute for experience, and those two played a big part in last night’s victory, coupled with the fact that 20-year-old Joe Carvalho chipped in with a key power play goal early in the second which tied the game at that point for the Cougars.

Who’s in Goal:

Sometimes it’s not the number of saves you make but the time of game when you make them that makes all of the difference, and last night Ty Edmonds made his mark in the shootout stopping all six Vancouver Giant attempts fired his way. Edmonds victory last night was the 20^th of his season and coming into action tonight he’s got the sixth best goals-against-average in the WHL at 2.74. He’s really turned his game into high gear as of late, which is a encouraging sign for the Cougars as they near the post-season.

X-Factor:

Take the positives away from last night’s game and build on them while also correcting some of the breakdowns that took place at times. The Giants showed last night that they are not going to fade away quietly into the night, which means that the Cougars won’t be in any position whatsoever to take shortcuts. Discipline, timely goals and saves and a killer instinct will all be vital keys tonight for the Cougars in their rematch with Vancouver.