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HomeNewsCougars complete dramatic comeback to stun Tri-City
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Cougars complete dramatic comeback to stun Tri-City

By Brendan Pawliw
Photo credit: John Keller

A mid-week tilt between two of the fastest teams in the Western Conference came down to the final shot.

Jett Lajoie’s marker in the fourth round of the shootout capped off a frantic 4-3 come-from-behind victory over the Tri-City Americans in front of 2,640 fans at Toyota Center.

Down 3-1 late in the third period, the Cougars lit the lamp twice in the final 10:27 to push the Americans to overtime.

Lee Shurgot capitalized on a Hunter Laing pass on the power-play to trim the deficit to one.

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Then, with star goaltender Josh Ravensbergen pulled, LA Kings prospect Koehn Ziemmer fired a bullet past Tri-City netminder Lucas Matecha with 27 seconds left to force overtime.

Lajoie had a chance to tie it up earlier in the sequence but was denied in tight.

Brandon Whynott and former Cougar Carter MacAdams began the offensive fireworks in the final 20 minutes.

Whynott collected his 15th of the campaign on a chance in the PG slot while MacAdams re-directed a point blast that beat Ravensbergen.

PG opened the scoring at 12:32 of the first period as Washington Capitals signed first-round pick Terik Parascak beat Americans goalie Lucas Matecha.

Fort Saint James product Terrell Goldsmith cashed in on a rebound after a stellar initial save by Josh Ravensbergen to tie the game at 1-1 early in the second period.

The Cougars survived a close call a few minutes later as Jackson Smith sprung Jake Sloan on a break but was obstructed by a pair of red jerseys trailing the play.

This drew the ire of Tri-City bench boss Stu Barnes who was unimpressed that neither a penalty shot or a power-play was awarded.

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Early in the third, Ravensbergen was saved by the cross bar as a hard blast by Smith rung the iron and boomeranged straight back to the 18-year-old netminder from North Vancouver.

Standout rookie Carson Carels took a puck off the face following a point shot by Tri-City defender Carter Savage but stayed on the bench and re-entered the contest.

The Americans outshot PG 33-32.

The Cougars went 1-for-2 on the power-play while Tri-City was 0-for-3.

Ravensbergen made 30 saves in the victory, his best came in overtime off Smith who’s one-time blast went off the shoulder.

Matecha made 30 saves in defeat for the hosts.

Wednesday’s contest marked the Cougars debut former newly acquired defenseman Corbin Vaughan from the Regina Pats in exchange for Ephram McNutt and a 2nd round pick in 2025.

The 18-year-old from Merritt was paired with Bauer Dumanski. This meant Arseni Anisimov slid down to the third pairing with Fraser Leonard.

Ziemmer who scored for the 112th time in a Cats uniform, is only eight goals away from tying Chase Witala’s franchise record (120).

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Americans star rookie Gavin Garland finished the night with two assists and was named third star. He was outdone by only Ravensbergen (2nd star) and Goldsmith (1st star).

PG moves to 16-8-3-2, two points up on the Victoria Royals (15-10-3-2) for the BC Division lead.

The Americans drop to 18-6-2-1 good enough for fourth in the Western Conference but have three games in hand on the Spokane Chiefs (21-9-0-0).

A stretch of seven consecutive road games for the Cougars continues Friday against the Portland Winterhawks.

Puck drop is at 7:00 pm from the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Winterhawks, who have won all three previous meetings by a single goal, defeated the Everett Silvertips 4-3 Wednesday evening.

You can catch all the action with Cole Waldie on 94.3 The Goat.

Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing [email protected].

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