WHL recap: Cougars edge Blazers; Hart shuts down Raiders; Giants put away Rebels

Vancouver 4 Red Deer 2

The break in losing on their B.C. Division trip, was a short one for the Red Deer Rebels. After beating Victoria 5-3 on Tuesday, snapping a six-game skid, they fell to the Vancouver Giants 4-2. The Rebels are now 1-5 on their seven-game trip, with one more game going Friday in Cranbrook against the Kootenay ICE. 

The Giants were led by three assists from Tyler Benson and two goals from James Malm. Ty Ronning also kept his goal-scoring streak going with another marker. He has now scored in eight straight and has 10 goals in that span, for 20 overall this year.

Malm, who himself is finding the net a lot lately, started the scoring as he found a rebound on the power play and backhanded the puck past Red Deer goalie Ethan Anders.

The Rebels responded and took a 2-1 lead with a marker from Kristian Reichel with 30 seconds left in the first and one from Brandon Cutler 6:17 into the second. The goal was his first of the year.

Just over six minutes later, Brayden Watts netted his eight of the year to tie the game again.

In the third period, Reese Johnson celebrated what would be the go-ahead goal for the Rebels, but the video review found that the puck never passed the goal line.

The Giants added to Red Deer’s woes with Malm’s second of the night with 7:56 left. He was all over a juicy rebound Anders kicked out after Benson wired a hard shot in on him and he put it away.

Ronning then kept his streak alive with an empty netter with 31 seconds left.

Tendeck turned away 31 of 33 in the victory and Anders stopped 27 of 30.

The Giants will play in Kamloops Friday. The Giants are on a three-game win streak.

 

Prince George 5 @Kamloops 4

With the first three games of the season series between the Prince George Cougars (7-9-2-2) and the Kamloops Blazers (7-13) being decided by a total of 10 goals, we were due for a tight one in Kamloops Wednesday.

The Cougars roared out to 3-0 and 4-1 leads, before the Blazers roared back to make it 4-3 with 15:40 left. Kody McDonald then buried a short-handed marker with 3:22 left in regulation that was the back-breaker. Garrett Pilon made it 5-4 with 47 seconds left, but the Blazers could not get any closer.

Ethan O’Rourke scored twice for the Cougars, while Chance Adrian had two assists and 17-year-old d-man Cole Moberg had a goal and an assist.

Pilon had a goal and two assists for the Blazers in the loss, while Jermaine Loewen and Nick Chyzowski had two points.

15-year-old netminder Dylan Garand turned away 33 of 38 in his second career wHL start, while Tavin Grant stopped 27 of 31.

The Blazers next host the Vancouver Giants on Friday. They had a two-game win streak coming in.

The Cougars won for the first time in regulation since October 27th.

Everett 2 Prince Albert 0

Carter Hart’s career with the Everett Silvertips (9-10-1-1) has always felt like a storied one. His name was cemented in franchise history even more Wednesday night as he shut out the visiting Prince Albert Raiders (9-8-3-0) and tied franchise record for most career shutouts.

Hart was in fine form at Xfinity arena as he turned away all 25 shots he faced from the Raiders. 

It took 26:08 of game time before Everett finally broke the scoreless tie. Sean Richards drove up the left wing and beat P.A. goalie Ian Scott to his right for his eighth of the year. Richards has been on fire lately with six points over his last four games.

Patrick Bajkov then added some insurance with another beauty with 5:33 eft in regulation as he cut to the inside and wired one past Scott.

Scott was solid in his own right as he stopped 40 of the 42 shots he saw.

Kevin Davis had an assist on both of the ‘Tips goals.

The Silvertips next play at home against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Friday. P.A., who is now 1-2 on their five-game U.S. Division trip, will take on the Tri-City Americans in Kennewick Friday.