Cats Stun Tips in Everett

By Kelly Sharp

Prince George Cougars rallied from a 3-0 third period deficit to stun the Silvertips 4-3 in Everett for a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Hockey League Western Conference semi-final. The Cats comeback started with Devin Setoguchi scoring his 9^th goal of the playoffs at 3:01 of third period.  Shortly after hitting the crossbar with a shot, Nick Drazenovic went top shelf to beat Leland Irving as the Cougars pulled within 3-2 at 7:38.

The Cougars got the equalizer off a fluke goal when Chris Durand’s shot from the corner went off the leg of Irving at 8:19 of the third period. Durand’s second goal of the playoffs was the winner when he converted a pass from Drazenovic on the power play at 12:29 of the wild final period.

The ‘Tips broke open  a 1-0 lead after twenty minutes with a pair power play goals in the second period. Prince George had some quality scoring chances in the opening period, including 3 on a power play, but Leland Irving came up big in the Everett net. The Silvertips finally solved the solid goaltending of Real Cyr by converting an odd man rush. Kyle Beach beat Cyr off a feed from Dan Gendur with 1:02 left in the opening frame.  The Cats killed a 5 on 3 Everett power play for 46 seconds in the second period before Zack Dailey scored a power play goal on a deflection for a 2-0 Silvertips lead. Everett made it 3-0 on Moises Gutierrez power play goal. The Silvertips outshot the Cougars 21-4 in the second period.

The Cats 4 unanswered third period goals dropped the Silvertips to 5-1 this post season at the Everett Event Centre. Real Cyr improved to 7-1 in the playoffs blocking 36 shots, Leland Irving turned aside 19 shots in the Silvertips net.

The Cougars return home a victory away from reaching the WHL Western Conference final against the Vancouver Giants.

The Cats will try to close out the Silvertips in Game 6 Monday at 7PM at CN Centre.

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