The Prince George Cougars overcame a Nick Henry natural hat-trick, as they upended the Regina Pats 5-3 on Friday night at the CN Centre. Ethan Browne scored the game-winning goal on a power-play in the second period and Isaiah DiLaura stopped 30-shots for his fourth win. Josh Curtis and Joel Lakusta each had a goal and an assist and Jackson Leppard scored a short-handed marker in the first period.
GAME NOTES
BOUNCING BACK: The Cougars ended their two-game winless streak with Friday’s win. It was a much better first period, with the Cougars leading 2-0 after 20-minutes. They were outscored 4-0 in the first periods against Kamloops in their two losses last weekend. After Friday’s win, the Cougars improve to 7-0-0-1 when leading after the second period.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The Cougars not only scored a power-play goal and short-handed goal but they also killed-off all six Regina power-plays. Jackson Leppard’s short-handed tally in the first moves him into a tie with Tyson Upper for the team lead (1). The Cougars’ penalty-kill jumped up to seventh in the WHL after the win.
UP NEXT: The Cougars (10-10-1-2) wrap up their five game home stand tomorrow, as they face the Saskatoon Blades (14-8-2-0) on TransCanada Heroes Night; the puck drops at 7 pm. Tickets for the game are available at the TicketsNorthbox office, or online at www.ticketsnorth.ca
GAME SUMMARY
Boxscore- http://whl.ca/gamecentre/1015842/boxscore
SCORING
Cougars– Josh Curtis (1 G, 1 A), Joel Lakusta (1 G, 1 A), Matéj Toman (2 A), Jackson Leppard (1 G), Josh Maser (1 G), Ethan Browne (1 G), Vladislav Mikhalchuk (1 A), Ryan Schoettler (1 A).
Pats-Nick Henry (3 G), Sergei Alkhimov (1 A), Ryker Evans (1 A), Aaron Hyman (1 A), Austin Pratt (1 A).
GOALTENDING
Cougars- Isaiah DiLaura (Win) 30/33
Pats- Max Paddock (Loss) 16/20
POWER-PLAY
Cougars- 1/4
Pats- 0/6
THREE STARS: 1) Nick Henry 2) Ryan Schoettler 3) Jackson Leppard
-PG Cougars
