Cougars Blanked 3-0 In Vancouver

By 250 News

The Prince George Cougars got solid goaltending from James Priestner in Vancouver Saturday, but the Giants got a shut-out performance from Mark Segal in a 3-0 Giants victory at Pacific Coliseum.

The Cougars and Giants were meeting for the second time in 10 nights and for the fourth time in January.  The goalies were the story in the first period, with Priestner robbing Matt Bellerive on a 2-on-0 in the Cougars zone, then stoning Neil Manning point blank in front of the Cougars net.  Brock Hirsche had a short handed break away in the first and had Segal beaten on the blocker side, but shot the puck off the outside of the goal post.  The game was scoreless through one period with the Cougars out-shooting Vancouver 12-11.

The Giants broke through on the power play early in the second period.  Darren Bestland's point shot went through a screen and past Priestner on the glove side to put the Giants ahead 1-0 at 3:35.  That's the way it stood through 40 minutes, with the Cougars holding a 22-19 edge in shots, with a 10-8 advantage in the second period.

The Giants put the game out of reach in the third when Matt Bellerive put a loose puck past Priestner at 14:25, then Nathan Burns won a race for the puck in the Cougars end, avoiding an attempted poke check and making it 3-0 at 17:18, for a 3-0 Giants lead and eventual win.  The Giants out-shot the Cougars 9-8, but the Cougars had a 30-28 shots advantage.  Both teams failed to score on 5-on-3 power plays and the Cougars were 0-for-4 with the man advantage and the Giants were 1-for-5.

The Cougars record drops to 22-21-2-1 as they finish their three game trip in Chilliwack against the Bruins Saturday.  The Cougars return home to meet the Kamloops Blazers Wednesday at CN Centre, starting at 7:00pm.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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