Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Cougars Drop a Heartbreaker to Portland.

Tuesday night in Prince George, the Prince George Cougars lost a heart breaker. Nicolas Petan scored a goal with 1:25 left in the third period to break a 3-3 tie, and the Portland Winterhawks escaped with a 5-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars. Jordan Tkatch scored twice for the Cougars, while Ty Rattie notched a hat-trick for Portland in the victory.

The Winterhawks led 2-0 after the first period thanks to two unanswered goals from Ty Rattie. Rattie’s first came on a power play at the 12:52 mark of the first period. Rattie grabbed a loose puck at the side of the goal and knocked it home for his 29th of the season.

Less than four minutes later Rattie struck again. This time his linemate Sven Bartschi did most of the grunt work as he deked his way through a number of defenders and found Rattie at the other side of the goal for his second of the game and 30th of the year. Portland outshot Prince George 17-10 after one.

The Cougars found some life in the second period thanks to 16-year-old sniper Jordan Tkatch. Tkatch received a breakaway pass from Jarrett Fontaine and made no mistake on a back-hand deke. For Tkatch it was his sixth of the season and his first goal at CN Centre this season. Less than four minutes later Jordan Tkatch struck again on the power play. Right off the face-off the puck came free to Tkatch who wired it past Mac Carruth for his seventh of the season and second of the night.

Early in the third period the Cougars took their first lead of the game when Martin Marincin skated the puck into the slot from the right wing and flipped one past Mac Carruth for his third of the season.

The Cougars lead would be short-lived as Ty Rattie buried his third of the game thanks to a sly pass from Nicolas Petan along the right wing.

The game winded down with both teams trading chances. Cougars goaltender Drew Owsley came up big multiple times down the stretch.

Late in the third with less than two minutes to go, the Cougars won a faceoff in their own zone. Unfortunately for the Cougars, the puck was knocked off of Dan Gibb’s stick in front of the goal. Sven Bartschi found the puck and slid it back-door to the waiting Nicolas Petan who scored his sixth of the season to give Portland the 4-3 lead.

Seconds later the Cougars had a great chance to tie it, but Mac Carruth made a bit stop off of Shane Pilling, and Brad Ross then iced the game with an empty-netter.

Both teams finished one-for-two on the power play while Winterhawks outshot the Cougars 45-38. For the Cougars it was their seventh one-goal loss at home this season. The Cougars record falls to 9-19-0-2 while Portland improves their mark to 20-9-1-1.

The Cougars get a chance at redemption tomorrow night when they once again host Portland at 7:00.

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