If you want to be the man, you’ve got to beat the man.
A heroic 48-save performance by Taylor Gauthier propelled the Prince George Cougars to a 3-2 victory over the BC Division-leading Kamloops Blazers in front of 2,951 fans at CN Centre on Saturday.
“Maybe we are learning a little bit. We have had a lot of stuff happen to us this year and we got to keep sticking with it. We are a really young hockey club and all of this is good. You can really sell what you are saying when you get wins,” said Mark Lamb, Cougars Head Coach and GM.
“Sometimes it’s a little bit harder when you don’t get wins and results are winning. When you have a couple of games like this, you can really reinforce a lot of the good things.”
It only took four minutes for the ice to be flooded with toques and teddy bears as an Ethan Samson point shot slithered through Blazer netminder Dylan Ernst for an early 1-0 lead.
Santa Samson sends the teddy bears to the ice in Prince George! ?@PGCougars | @NHLFlyers pic.twitter.com/fTtvyzb3Mm
— The WHL (@TheWHL) December 12, 2021
After a point-blank stop on Josh Pillar, Kamloops finally solved Gauthier at the 10:19 mark courtesy of Matthew Semimoff who jammed home a Daylan Kuefler feed.
Kamloops continued to pour on the offensive pressure inside the Cats zone in the second period but Gauthier had all the answers, robbing Kuefler right on top of the blue paint.
Later in the frame, it was Ernst’s turn to come up big in the Blazer net, stoning Keaton Dowhaniuk on a transition rush keeping the game tied.
In the third, Ernst wandered out of his crease to play the puck but turned it over to Craig Armstrong who found Riley Heidt alone in the slot and his blooper shot fell over the glove, landing in the back of the net.
However, the Blazers quick strike offense ignited thirty-one seconds later as Reese Belton buried a shot stickside past Gauthier.
Lamb noted the team’s bump-up shifts after scoring a goal needs to vastly improve.
“Those situations are due to a combination of things. It’s about playing with confidence and making the right play at the right time and we are not making the right plays off of goals.”
The frantic pace of the game would shift back into the Cougars favour as Samson loaded up another hard point shot and rifled it past Ernst, giving PG its slim one goal edge back.
Following the goal, the Blazers again received a golden opportunity as Kuefler split the Cougar defense and was hauled down by Keaton Dowhaniuk and was awarded a penalty shot.
Gauthier made his most important save of the contest, outwaiting Kuefler and stopped him.
“They are an unbelievable hockey club and we expect that out of Taylor, he’s a 20-year-old goalie and in my mind, he is the best goalie in the league. Prince George is lucky to watch this guy,” added Lamb.
Kamloops (18-6-0-0) outshot the Cougars (10-14-0-0) 50-26 overall but went 0-for-4 on the power-play while the Cougars failed to score on both of their opportunities.
The Blazers were without a pair of key players as starting goaltender Dylan Garrand and high-scoring forward Logan Stankoven as they are at the Team Canada evaluation camp for the World Juniors.
PG continues its home stand Tuesday and Wednesday against the Vancouver Giants (13-10-1-0).
Lamb expects their Lower Mainland rivals to be in a foul mood after dropping three in a row, two of which were against the Victoria Royals..
“They are going to come in here and play real hungry. Victoria beat them twice in a row and it’s going to be a real battle, and we have them three out of four before the Christmas break.”
Puck drop for both nights is at 7pm from CN Centre.
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