The Prince George Cougars can point to the second period as the culprit in their 6-1 loss to the Kamloops Blazers on Thursday night at the Sandman Centre.
The Blazers scored four goals in the second period, including two 15-seconds apart, as they handed the Cougars their second loss of the season. Kamloops also outshot the Cougars 20-8 in the middle frame and 35-11 over the final two periods.
Koehn Ziemmer scored the Cougars’ only goal in the first period as the two teams were tied 1-1 after 20 minutes. Prince George outshot Kamloops 15-7 in the first period. However, the Blazers came out swinging in the middle frame.
Matthew Seminoff, Caedan Bankier, Tye Spencer, and Connor Zary all scored for the Blazers in the middle stanza. Spencer and Zary scored 15-seconds apart inside the final two-minutes of the frame.
Taylor Gauthier was tagged with the loss, as he stopped 36 of 42 shots. Dylan Garand picked up his third win as many starts, after he kicked out 25 of 26 shots.
Special teams were a struggle too, as the Cougars were 0-4 on the power-play and the penalty-kill conceded two goals.
GAME SUMMARY
Scoring
Cougars- Koehn Ziemmer
Blazers- Matthew Seminoff (2), Mats Lindgren, Caedan Bankier, Tye Spencer, Connor Zary
Goaltending
Cougars- Taylor Gauthier, 60:00, 36 saves, 42 shots
Blazers- Dylan Garand, 60:00, 25 saves, 26 shots
Power-Play
Cougars- 0/4
Blazers- 2/5
Game Notes: Defenceman Jaren Brinson made his WHL debut Thursday. The 16-year-old was an even rating with two shots on net. Forward Craig Armstrong was assessed a five-minute kneeing major in the third period. The Cougars are now 0-2-0-0 against the Blazers.