Tigers Hold On To Beat Cougars 5-4 At CN Centre

By 250 News

The Medicine Hat Tigers appeared well on their way to another lopsided win at CN Centre Wednesday night, leading 4-0 after the first period in the back half of the mid-week double-header.  But the Prince George Cougars fought back to make the game close, but could not find the equalizer in a 5-4 loss to the Tigers.

Hudson Stremmel started in goal for the Cougars for the first time since a December 30 win in Vancouver, after suffering a concussion in practise early in the new year.  The Cougars were looking to bounce back after a 9-3 loss Tuesday at the paws of the Tigers, a team challenging for first in the Eastern Conference.  The Cougars worked hard in the first period, but to no avail, with Tigers starter Deven Dubyk kicking out a number of early opportunities for the hosts.  The Tigers would open the scoring midway through the first period.  Emerson Etem led a rush into the Cougars zone and was able to throw a pass in front of the net to Wacey Hamilton, who had the puck deflect off his skate and behind Stremmel for a 1-0 Tigers lead.  The goal was Hamilton's 18th of the season and the second straight night the Tigers Captain had opened the scoring.  Joey Fraser scored his 14th 1:17 later for a 2-0 lead from the side of the goal, pouncing on a rebound from the end boards.  At the end of the period, the Tigers would strike two more times, with goals from Linden Vey, his 19th at 18:23, and Bretton Cameron, who notched his 30th at 19:52 for a 4-0 Tigers lead through 20 minutes.  In the first period of both games in Prince George, the Tigers had out-scored the Cougars 9-0.  The shots advantage went the Cougars way, 14-12.

In the second period, the Cougars would see hard work pay off, when Alex Rodgers converted his Cougars leading 14th goal of the season from the side of the net after sustained pressure in the Tigers end.  Nick Buonassis passed the puck to Rodgers from behind the goal and Daniel Gibb let the original shot go from the line that would lead to his first WHL point with an assist.  The goal came at the 10 minute mark and was the only tally of the middle stanza.  The Tigers had the edge in shots in the period, 12-11.

In the third, the Cougars got an important early goal.  Nick Buonassisi, who was over on the left wing, raced across the ice to pick up a loose puck inside the Tigers line, then fired a quick wrist shot over Dubyk's blocker hand for his 10th goal of the season.  Petr Senkerik drew the lone assist on the goal just 18 seconds into the third to cut the Medicine Hat lead to 4-2.  Just under three minutes later, the Cougars added another goal after a great shift from Parker Stanfield, Clarke Breitkreuz and Spencer Asuchak.  The trio helped pin the Tigers in their zone and Breitkreuz was able to fire a shot that went over the goal, but bounced at the left side of the net where Stanfield would knock in his seventh goal of the season.  The marker was Stanfield's first in 11 games, with Breitkreuz getting the lone assist.  But the Tigers weren't done scoring either.  at the 4:29 mark, the Cougars could not clear the zone and to make matters worse, their own rink helped lead to the fifth Medicine Hat goal.  Jaroslav Vlach tried to clear the puck forward off the boards and out of the Prince George zone, but the puck went off the seem of the Cougars bench door, bouncing back into the Prince George zone and leading to Matt MacKay scoring his 19th goal of the season for a 5-3 Tigers lead.  James Dobrowolski ended an 11 game scoring drought with his 12th of the season at 17:16, but the Tigers held on for a 5-4 win, giving them five consecutive victories and a 31-15-3-5 record, increasing their lead in the Central division to four points over the Calgary Hitmen, although Calgary has five games in hand.  The Cougars out-shot the Tigers 40-39 in the game, with each team getting 15 shots in the final period.  The Cougars see their losing streak bumped to 11 games with the loss, not helped out by the fact they went 0-for-5 on the power play Wednesday.  The Tigers didn't score on either of their two power plays, as well.  Nick Buonassisi led the Cougars attack with a goal and two assists, giving him six points in his last three games.

The Cougars will take a 9-39-1-1 record into Kelowna Friday night to start a two game weekend swing, which will see the Cougars also face the Vancouver Giants in Langley Saturday.  The Cougars will then come home for five straight games, starting with the Edmonton Oil Kings on Friday, February 5, which will be Mascot Mania Night.  Puck drop is 7:00 at CN Centre and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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