Prince George 4 Kelowna 1
The slow spiral down to the bottom of the standings in the Western Conference for the Prince George Cougars (21-33-4-4) was interrupted Tuesday night with a 4-1 win over the division-leading Kelowna Rockets (38-19-4-2).
Joel Lakusta, Jared Bethune and Brogan O’Brien all had two points, while Taylor Gauthier stopped 20 of 21 Kelowna shots.
The Rockets opened the scoring on a crazy scramble in front of Prince George goalie Taylor Gauthier. Erik Gardiner corralled the puck on the power play and threw it towards the net. The puck ended up coming back to him and he poked it home. It was his fourth goal against P.G. this year and fifth overall.
A bad turnover by Braydyn Chizen led to P.G. tying the game. Jared Bethune got his stick on it and Vladislav Mikhalcuhk beat Kelowna goalie Brodan Salmond on the short side for his 14th this year.
The Cougars took their first lead of the game and scored their second goal on only nine shots. Austin Crossley used a screen to beat Salmond glove side for his third this year.
Josh Maser added to the P.G. lead with his 26th this year with 6:55 left in the second.
Before the middle frame was over, Lakusta added a power play goal, giving the Cougars a 4-1 lead and ending Salmond’s night. He stopped 16 of 20 in 36:09 of action.
James Porter came in and turned away two shots in relief.
The two teams get back at it in P.G. for another game Wednesday.
Seattle 5 Vancouver 4 (OT)
You can this about the Seattle Thunderbirds (29-24-7-2)-they are not easy to put away. The Vancouver Giants (32-21-6-3) appeared to have put them on the ropes Tuesday night in Kent when they scored three times in the span of 4:14, to take a 4-1, second period lead.
Seattle has a lot of players who played roles on a WHL champion though and a couple of them really came through, sparking an incredible comeback.
They roared back and tied up the game in the late stages, before Zack Andrusiak completed his hat trick with the overtime winner on the power play.
David Tendeck again did his best to thwart the Thunderbirds. He stopped 35 of 40 and netted second- star honors.
Andrusiak netted his 25th this year to open the scoring. Off an errant Giants pass, Turner Ottenbreit rushed the other way and drove a shot low towards Vancouver goalie Tendeck. Andrusiak was right there to poke the puck in.
Tyler Popowich tied the game off some strong work in front. A shot came through on Seattle goalie Liam Hughes and Aidan Barfoot tracked down the puck throwing it out front for the quick Popowich tap in.
Despite Seattle getting a power play early in the second, it was the Giants taking the 2-1 lead. Andrusiak’s pass was tipped away and Dawson Holt wired a nice saucer pass over to Tyler Benson for the tap in and his 22nd this year.
3:20 later and on the power play, Ty Ronning tipped home his 54th of the year for the 3-1 Vancouver lead. He was standing in front of Hughes and holding his stick out when Matt Barberis hit it with the puck.
Then less than a minute later, the Giants extended their lead to three. James Malm finished off a nice passing play with his 18th this year.
Powered by two special teams goals, the Giants had soared out to a three-goal lead.
Nikita Malukhin netted his fifth this year before the second was over to cut the Giants lead to two.
Then Andrusiak scored his second goal 6:11 into the third to make this a 4-3 game.
Nolan Volcan notched his 27th this year to force overtime, with 1:07 left in regulation.
Andrusiak then added his 37th, the winner and hat trick completer.
The Giants continue their road trip in Kamloops on Friday, while the T-birds head down to Portland for a game there.
The T-birds using one of their two games in hand. They are now eight up on Kamloops with 10 games left. Kamloops has only eight left and so Seattle’s number of points needed to clinch is down to nine.
