Virk’s hat-trick trumps Cougars comeback bid in Tri-City

Two out of three ain’t bad.

Like a bat out of hell, Savin Virk played the role of overtime hero for the Tri-City Americans on Tuesday night as his hat-trick goal gave the Kennewick-based bunch a 4-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars in front of 2,475 fans at Toyota Centre.

(The Cougars beat the Americans twice on the weekend at CN Centre by scores of 4-3 and 5-2)

The opening puck drop was anything but Paradise by the Dashboard Light for the Cougars as Virk only needed 19 seconds to capitalize on a defensive zone gaffe to open the scoring for Tri-City.

Cruz Pavao doubled the Americans advantage at the 3:06 mark cashing in on a Brandon Whynott pass to make it 2-0.

Frustrated by the slow start, Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb gave his players the business at the visitor’s bench for the better part of 30 seconds to wake up his listless players by calling a timeout.

Message received.

Shortly after, the Cougars found their skating legs carrying the play for the remainder of the period.

From a cycle play, Carson Carels teed up a Viliam Kmec pass that blew past Americans goalie Lukas Matecha to trim the deficit to a single goal.

PG weathered a late storm killing off consecutive penalties to Terik Parascak and Riley Heidt – however, Michaluk dug deep and made a few point-blank stops to keep the visitors in range.

The fast-paced track meet continued into the second period as both teams traded chances.

Finally, the Cougars found the equalizer at the 15:58 mark where a Koehn Ziemmer rush found a hard-charging Matteo Danis who deflected the puck past Matecha to tie the game at 2-2.

Danis has his second goal in two games, we are back to even in this one!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/isrySSbgY9 pic.twitter.com/ouJ1CTIKdt

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 5, 2025

However, Virk swung momentum back in favour of Tri-City two minutes later as he skated into the high-slot and buried a Carter MacAdams pass beating Michaluk.

Despite the setback, PG roared back again in the third off a faceoff when a drawback found the stick of Bauer Dumanski handcuffing Matecha.

Dumanski picks his spot right off the faceoff to tie the game!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/WJWrsNsy8u pic.twitter.com/XVjiftHLN7

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 5, 2025

Minutes later, Parascak came within an eyelash of giving the Cougars the lead as he rung a hard wrist shot directly off the crossbar.

Not to be outdone, Michaluk provided some late-game theatrics of his own snaring a Pavao shot out of the air with his outstretched glove during a 2-on-1 rush forcing the Tri-City forward to look skyward.

COOPER MICHALUK SAVE OF THE NIGHT, WEEK, MONTH, YEAR pic.twitter.com/K5Qo3BezbC

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 5, 2025

The Americans received a boost on their blueline with the return of veterans Austin Zemlak and Carter Savage.

Both gobbled up key minutes due to the two-game suspension that was handed down to Tyrell Goldsmith for his elbow on Cougars forward Ben Riche on Saturday.

Riche was out of the lineup for the Cougars.

Sticking with suspensions, Corbin Vaughan served game three of his ten-game banishment after receiving an elbowing major against the Swift Current Broncos dating back to January 28th.

Prince George outshot the Americans 42-36 while both teams went a combined 0-for-4 on the power-play.

Michaluk made 32 saves in defeat while Matecha stopped 39 visiting pucks that came in his direction.

7/8 points vs the ams this season.
Kelowna up next! pic.twitter.com/D1xVH1p3UC

— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) February 5, 2025

The Cougars (28-15-4-2) drop two points back of the Victoria Royals (28-14-3-5) for first place in the BC Division.

Victoria cruised past the Kelowna Rockets on Tuesday by a 7-3 margin.

Both teams play again tonight (Wednesday) in the provincial capital.

PG finishes off its mini three-game trip with a pair of matchups against the Rockets (Friday at 7:05) and the Kamloops Blazers (Saturday at 6pm).