Cougars Hammer Kamloops 9-5

By 250 News

In the Prince George Cougars 1200th game in the Western Hockey League, they sure celebrated in style.  The Cougars put up a season high nine goals in handing the Kamloops Blazers a fourth straight loss, 9-5 at CN Centre on Wednesday night.

The Cougars got Captain Brett Connolly back in the line-up after missing two weeks with a sprained mcl.  The Blazers and Cougars were meeting for the sixth time, with the Cougars taking the last four encounters.  The Blazers got on the board first though, with JT Barnett picking up a power play goal, beating James Priestner at 2:32.  The Cougars took over the first half of the opening period and the work paid off when Cody Carlson blasted a slapper from the left point past Jeff Bosch for his sixth goal of the season to tie the game at one at 9:16.  Connolly and Nick Buonassisi drew the helpers.  The Cougars got more offense from the defence 64 seconds later when Dan Gibb let go of a shot from the left wing that beat Bosch to make it 2-1 Cougars.  For Gibb, it was his first goal of the season with assists to Sena Acolatse and Jaroslav Vlach, with the latter playing in his 100th WHL game.  Connolly added to the Cougars lead at 12:07, tipping home a 2-on-1 pass from Charles Inglis for Connolly's 26th goal of the season, giving the Cougars a 3-1 lead.  Thomas Frazee cut the lead to 3-2 on a power play goal at 17:07, but Inglis and Connolly got together again with 1:10 left in the period when Inglis went cross ice with a pass to Connolly who fired a one-time shot home for a 4-2 Cougars lead.  Buonassisi added an assist.  The Cougars out-shot the Blazers 16-13 in the first.

Greg Fraser continued his break-out season with a pair of goals in the second period, giving him 16 markers on the season.  The first goal came at 8:23, batting the puck out of the air on a Cougars power play to make the score 5-2.  Taylor Stefishen and Jesse Forsberg got assists, with Forsberg also playing in his 100th WHL game.  Troy Bourke scored a beauty goal at 12:11 for his 11th goal, stepping off the right wing boards with a pair of shifty moves then beating Bosch high on the glove hand for a 6-2 Cougars lead, set up by Carlson and Brock Hirsche.  Fraser scored again at 17:17 to up the Cougars lead to 7-2 after great work below the Blazers net along with Stefishen.  Stefishen and Carlson picked up the assists.  Brendan Ranford added a late goal with 11 seconds left for a 7-3 Cougars lead heading to the dressing room, out-shooting the Blazers 12-9.

Bounassisi would keep the offense clicking at 4:50 of the third with a power play goal, picking the top corner on the glove hand of Blazers goalie Cam Lanigan, who took over for Bosch at the start of the period.  Ranford scored his second of the game at 8:43 to cut the Cougars lead in half to 8-4, but Inglis scored the Cougars fourth power play goal of the night, set up by Connolly and Buonassisi at the 11 minute mark.  Chase Souto rounded out the scoring at 17:17 and the Cougars wound up with a 9-5 victory.  Bourke's goal stood up as the winner, meaning his last three goals have all been game winners.  The Cougars out-shot the Blazers 8-6 in the third and 36-28 in the game.  The Cougars were 4-for-7 on the power play and the Blazers were 3-for-5.

The Cougars improve their record to 24-21-2-1 and are three points behind Kelowna for second in the BC division and four back of the front running Vancouver Giants.  The Blazers fall to 21-27-2-1, leaving the Cougars six points up on the Blazers.  The Cougars head on the road for a pair of games, with three of the next four against the Rockets, starting Friday at Prospera Place.  The Cougars head to Everett Saturday and return home for back-to-back games with the Rockets February 4 and 5.  Both games start at 7:00pm at CN Centre and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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