Cats Comeback Falls Just Short.

The Prince George Cougars nearly completed a four-goal comeback in the third period, but fell just short in a 6-5 loss to the Victoria Royals. Jamie Crooks had three goals for Victoria while four different Cougars had multi-point games.

Victoria led 4-0 after one period. Their first goal came just 47 seconds in on the power play thanks to a low point-shot from Kade Pilton.

Jamie Crooks’ first of three would come at 8:12. Moments later Hayden Rintoul tallied on the man-advantage, and that spelt the end of the night for Drew Owsley in goal. Owsley was pulled in favour of Devon Fordyce who finished the game for the Cats.

Crooks would add one more in the period, and Victoria had a comfortable 4-0 lead.

Early in the second, Crooks completed his hat-trick and the Royals appeared to be in complete control. The Cats put a dent in their lead though at 6:31 while short-handed. Troy Bourke converted his second goal of the season thanks to some great work down low by Spencer Asuchak. Charles Inglis (3) would add a power play marker, and all of a sudden it was 5-2 game.

Kevin Sundher helped regain a four-goal lead with his second of the season, and the Royals skated into the second intermission with a 6-2 lead.

Early in the third, it went from bad to worse for Prince George. Charles Inglis was kicked out of the game for a checking-to-the-head penalty, and the Cats had to kill off a five minute major penalty. They did.

Then came the flurry of offense. Nick Buonassisi made it 6-3 with his first goal of the 2011-2012 campaign, and Greg Fraser quickly followed with a power play marker to make it 6-4. Jake Mykitiuk then converted on a breakaway for his first ever WHL goal, and all of a sudden it was 6-5.

The Cats came eerily close to tying the score at six, but Jordan Tkatch was denied in close by Braden Gamble.

The Cats record falls to 1-1-0-1 while the Royals improve to 3-1 on the season. The Cats did manage to score twice on the power play and finished the game two-for-seven. Victoria on the other side finished two-for-six. The Cats outshot Victoria 30-29 in defeat.

Next up for the Cougars: A seven game road trip which begins Tuesday night in Prince Albert.