Spokane Defeats Cougars 7-3

Wednesday, October 27, 2010 11:28 PM

The Prince George Cougars opened a four game road trip on the wrong note, falling 7-3 to the Spokane Chiefs Wednesday night. The Cougars and Chiefs were meeting for the first time this season, with the next meeting not scheduled until close to the end of February. The Chiefs got on the board first, with Tyler Johnson, the Chiefs leading scorer, getting a power play goal at 3:20. Chiefs defenceman Brendan Kichton added to the Chiefs lead with a short-handed goal at 5:49. But the Cougars got one of those goals back with Brett Connolly notching his 14th goal of the season on a Cougars power play at 11:35, giving the Cougars Captain a point in all 14 Cougars games this season. Charles Inglis drew the lone assist on the goal. The Cougars had a number of chances to tie the score, but could not solve Chiefs goalie James Reid a second time in the period. Anthony Bardaro gave the Chiefs a 3-1 lead at 14:19 on a pretty 3-on-1 passing play, which is how the game stood through one period. The Cougars were out-shot 19-15. Inglis would get his 8th of the season at 7:57 to get the Cougars back to a goal, down 3-2. Brock Hirsche started the play by collecting the puck in the offensive zone and fed Inglis, who went through his legs to get around a Chiefs defender, then slid the puck past Reid. But the Cougars gave up a back-breaking goal with two-tenths of a second left, as Tyler Vanscourt fired a shot from the right side that beat Priestner on the glove hand to make it 4-2 Chiefs through two periods. The Chiefs had an 8-7 lead in shots in the period. The Chiefs would add to their lead at 6:38, when 20-year old Levko Koper snuck a shot through a screen in front of the Cougars goal to the back of the net. The Cougars would answer at 12:17, when Nick Buonassisi was sent in alone by Greg Fraser and beat Reid glove side on a backhand for his fifth of the year, coming short-handed. But Corbin Baldwin and Kenton Miller rounded out the scoring for a 7-3 Chiefs win. Spokane out-shot Prince George 14-10 in the third and 41-32 in the game. The Cougars were 1-for-3 on the power play and the Chiefs were 2-for-5. Both teams scored short-handed goals. The Cougars will look to get back in the win column Friday in Seattle against the Thunderbirds. The Cougars next home game is Friday, November 5 against the Edmonton Oil Kings, starting at 7:00pm at CN Centre. Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.
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