Cats Blank T-Birds.

Friday in Kent, the Prince George Cougars blanked the Seattle Thunderbirds 1-0. Cody Carlson scored the game’s lone goal and Drew Owsley stopped all 24 shots he faced for his third shutout of the season.

The Prince George Cougars grabbed momentum early. They outshot Seattle 14-9 in the first period and out-chanced them by a wide margin. Seattle goaltender Calvin Pickard was sharp making several tough saves to keep the game scoreless through 20 minutes of play.

The Cougars had a big territorial edge in the first, and were able to draw a late power play.

Early in the second the Cougars struck on the man-advantage when Cody Carlson fired a point-shot past Calvin Pickard to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead. For Carlson it was his fourth of the season.

The Cougars kept coming, but Calvin Pickard kept the door shut for Seattle.

Tempers started to boil over in the second period. Campbell Elynuik and Jacob Doty had a spirited fight, and Greg Fraser and Kyle Verdino both dropped their gloves and were ready to go – But the linesmen stepped between the two of them and the fight was broken up before it even started. It was 1-0 for the Cougars through two periods of play and the Cougars were outshooting Seattle 27-13 after 40 minutes.

Prince George got into some penalty trouble in the third period. Campbell Elynuik was kicked out of the game for a boarding-major penalty, but Seattle was unable to capitalize. The Cats penalty-kill killed off all three penalties that they took while their power play went one-for-four.

Seattle had their moments in the third, as did the Cougars – But both Drew Owsley and Calvin Pickard made timely saves. A late penalty from Branden Trook was the final straw for Seattle who spen the remainder of the game short-handed.

With the victory the Cougars improve their road record to 8-10-0-1, and their overall record jumps to 11-19-0-2 through 32 games. The Cougars have won five of their last seven games and now sit alone in eighth place in the Western Conference standings.

The Cougars will look for their third straight victory on Saturday when they face the Spokane Chiefs on the road.