Dezainde strikes twice as Cougars clip Thunderbirds

Carlin Dezainde led the way as the Prince George Cougars picked up the 5-2 win over the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Dezainde scored a pair of his own and added a helper to silence the 3,057 fans at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

“You look at the grade-a chances he had from pretty much the house, as we would call it,” said Assistant Coach Carter Rigby on the post-game show on 94.3 the Goat.

“A few went wide, but he made stuff count, a sneaky goal there to push off that faceoff, and who knows if the goalie thought he was going backdoor, but sliding it under the arm was pretty silky as the kids call it.”

Beat the camera, beat the goalie! Carlin Dezainde has 6 goals in 6 games to open the season!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/KwrTIwnJKz pic.twitter.com/cjI5wSMPct

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 5, 2024

Dezainde’s first goal on the night was enough for him to hit the 100 point plateau in his WHL career.

Dezainde has his 5th of the season off a nice feed from Heidt!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/foVkwU47XR pic.twitter.com/8nOnR1VVPn

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 5, 2024

Dezainde picked up an assist as Jett Lajoie opened the scoring a little over five minutes into the first.

Our leading scorer does it again!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/UUSVxvT2Xn pic.twitter.com/eQ3FAj6px7

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) October 5, 2024

Rigby thought the team got off to a bit of a slow start.

“Nothing was really smooth, I think we were trying to force pucks too much, we weren’t getting pucks in and using our speed and letting our skill take over in the offensive zone, looking to make a pretty pass off the bat,” he said.

Viliam Kmec and Borya Valis also scored for the Cougars in the win.

Former Cougar Arjun Bawa opened Seattle’s scoring for his second of the season.

It was a feisty affair, with a trio of fights in the game and the two teams combining for 52 penalty minutes.

The full box score is here.

With the win, the Cougars move into first place in the WHL’s Western Conference.

The WHL standings can be found here.

The Cougars are back in action tonight, for a third-round rematch with the Portland Winterhawks.

The full Cougars schedule can be found here.