Cougars Earn Huge 5-1 Victory In Seattle

By 250 News

The Prince George Cougars have moved into the seventh spot in the Western Conference with back-to-back road wins, dumping the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1 in Kent, Washington Saturday night.

The Cougars were coming off a dominant 8-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants Friday to kick off three games in three nights on the road.  With the win, the Cougars were two points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference and three ahead of Seattle.  The Cougars and Thunderbirds squared off for the final time this season Saturday, with the road team winning the first three encounters.  For the second straight night, Brett Connolly opened the scoring in the first period, finishing off a perfect pass from the left side by Martin Marincin.  Connolly knocked home his 42nd goal of the season on the power play, with James Dobrowolski also earning an assist.  The Cougars led 1-0 through one period, out-shooting the Thunderbirds 14-4.

The Cougars got into penalty trouble in the second period and while the Thunderbirds did not score on any of their four power plays, Tyler Alos scored right after a Cougars penalty kill at 10:29.  The game stayed tied at one through forty minutes, with Seattle out-shooting Prince George 10-7 in the middle frame.

But for the second straight night, the Cougars would score four goals in the third period.  Spencer Asuchak put the Cougars in front again at 11:02, taking a pass from Sena Acolatse and beating Calvin Pickard to make it 2-1 Cougars.  Brock Hirsche picked up an assist on the go-ahead goal.  Taylor Makin then gave the Cougars a 3-1 lead at 13:11, taking a cross crease pass from Charles Inglis and rifling home his second goal in as many nights and sixth of the season.  Shane Pilling picked up the second assist.  Then at 14:58, Taylor Stefishen raced into the Seattle zone to pick up a dump in from Brett Connolly.  Stefishen muscled his way to the front of the goal and roofed his 23rd goal of the year to give the Cougars a 4-1 lead.  Seattle pulled Pickard for an extra attacker and Brock Hirsche put the game on ice with his 8th goal of the year at 17:45 for a 5-1 Cougars lead.  The Cougars improve to 31-34-2-2 with the victory and leap-frog the Everett Silvertips into seventh in the Western Conference.  The Cougars out-shot Seattle 35-23, with Ty Rimmer stopping 58 of 59 shots he faced in two games at the ShoWare Centre.  The Cougars were 1-for-3 with the man advantage and were 4-for-4 on the penalty kill.

The Cougars finish the trip in Kennewick, Washington Sunday, facing the Tri-City Americans for the final time this season.  The Cougars will go into the game three points clear of Kamloops and five up on Seattle, the two teams on the outside of Western Conference playoff picture.  The Cougars face the Blazers to end the regular season next weekend, facing off in Kamloops Friday and in Prince George Saturday, March 19.  Puck drop is 7:00pm at CN Centre and tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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