Cougars Defeat Calgary 4-3, Extend Winning Streak To Four

By 250 News

The winning streak is at four for the Prince George Cougars, who edged the Calgary Hitmen 4-3 Wednesday night at CN Centre to kick off a four game home stand.

The Cougars and Hitmen were meeting for the first of two games this season, with the Cougars headed to southern Alberta February 12.  The Cougars had taken the BC Division lead Saturday with their 7-5 win over Kamloops and look to take sole possession of first with the Vancouver Giants idle Wednesday.  Both teams had 30 points, but the Cougars had one more win.  Charles Inglis, who had a pair of goals in Saturday's win, opened the scoring for the Cougars at 6:45, burying a Nick Buonassisi rebound past Brandon Glover for his 11th goal of the year to put the hosts up 1-0.  Troy Bourke also earned an assist.  Buonassisi would add to the lead at 16:51, beating Glover in tight for a power play goal and Buonassisi's 10th of the year for a 2-0 Cougars lead.  Inglis and Jesse Forsberg got assists, with the Cougars out-shooting Calgary 13-6 in the opening frame.

Cougars Captain Brett Connolly extended his point streak to six with his 21st goal of the season at the 52 second mark of the frame.  Connolly was set up by Sena Acolatse and Taylor Stefishen and the Cougars looked comfortably in front, up 3-0.  But Hitmen forward Jimmy Bubnick got Calgary back in the game in the final five minutes, scoring twice in 1:16 apart to cut the Cougars lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes.  The Hitmen out-shot Prince George 15-14.

Bubnick would get the natural hat-trick at 4:11 of the third, sneaking a shot past James Priestner on the blocker side to tie the game at three.  Priestner, though, kept the game tied a few minutes later with a sensational left pad stop on Cody Sylvester, who had what appeared to be an open glove side on Priestner.  The Cougars would take the lead once again at 9:53, with Acolatse firing a pass to Inglis who tipped home his second of the game and 12th of the season, and it stood as the winner in a 4-3 victory.  Inglis now has six points in the last three games for the Cougars.  The Cougars out-shot Calgary 13-11 in the third and 40-32 in the game.  The Cougars are 15-10-2-0 on the season for a BC Division leading 32 points and 13-0-1-0 when scoring four goals in a game.  The Cougars were 1-for-2 on the power play while the Hitmen were 0-for-5.

The Cougars continue the homestand with a pair of games with Seattle Friday and Saturday at CN Centre, both starting at 7:00pm.  The Cougars shut-out the Thunderbirds 2-0 in their first meeting of the season October 29 in Seattle.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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