Cougars Drop 5-3 Decision To Giants In Home Opener

By 250 News

Over 5000 fans came out to watch the Prince George Cougars home opener on Saturday night and they got a very entertaining hockey game.  But the Cougars fell behind in the first period and the Vancouver Giants held on for a 5-3 decision Friday night at CN Centre.

The Cougars were playing for the first time since their 6-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets last Saturday and entered their first meeting of eight with the Giants with a 1-1-0-0 record.  The Giants meantime had dropped three in a row and entered the game 1-3-0-0.  But the Giants have 20-year old Craig Cunningham back in the line-up this season, last year's Western Conference nominee for player of the year and Cunningham would get the Giants rolling in the first period.  The Giants Captain scored his second and third goals of the season 57 seconds apart at 13:24 and 14:21, beating Cougars goalie Morgan Clark to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.  But the Cougars would score late in the frame to cut the lead in half, when defenceman Martin Marincin blast from the right point was stopped by Giants goalie Mark Segal, but bounce off Spencer Asuchak and behind the goal line, making it 2-1 Giants.  The goal at 19:13 was Asuchak's third goal in in two periods.  The Giants out-shot the Cougars 16-8 in the first, the first time the Cougars had been out-shot in a period this season.

The Giants restored their two goal cushion in the second period short-handed.  A Cougars defender fell down on the blue line, allowing James Henry to take the puck and score on a break-away, giving the Giants a 3-1 lead at the 4:20 mark.  But the Cougars would respond with a power play goal, courtesy of Marincin, letting go a bullet one-timer over the glove hand of Segal for his second goal of the season, coming at 12:17.  The 5-on-3 goal was assisted by Brett Connolly and Charles Inglis, giving the latter his first point as a Cougar.  The Cougars out-shot the Giants 13-3 in the second period, but trailed 3-2.

The Giants, once again, took a two goal lead just 1:11 into the final period, with Henry notching his second of the game and fifth of the season, giving the Giants a 4-2 lead.  But again, the Cougars had an answer, this time just 28 seconds later.  Parker Stanfield ripped a wrist shot over Segal's glove hand, under the cross bar, for his first of the year to get the Cougars close, down 4-3.  But the Cats could not find the equalizer and Brendan Gallagher scored into an empty net for his fifth of the year, putting the finishing touches on a 5-3 Giants victory.  The Cougars out-shot Vancouver 11-8 in the third and 32-27 in the game, but fall to 1-2-0-0, while the Giants are now 2-3-0-0.  The Cougars power play had plenty of chances to score, going 1-for-12 in the game.  The Giants were 0-for-4.

The teams square off again Saturday night, starting at 7:00 at CN Centre.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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