The Royals lost their fourth consecutive Western Hockey League game Friday night at CN Centre as the host Prince George Cougars (20-6-2) enhanced their No. 6 ranking among major-junior teams in the country with a 4-2 victory before 2,842 fans.
The biggest question was whether the Royals (14-13-2) would go on to rue the 0-8 statistic on the power play against Prince George's league top-ranked penalty kill, including going 0-6 in the first period. They would indeed.
鈥淲e had opportunities to win, especially early on, but we didn't generate enough,鈥� said Royals head coach Dave Lowry.
Those kinds of opportunity streams "either build momentum or kill momentum" added Lowry.
It was the latter Friday for the Royals.
鈥淲e鈥檒l make adjustments and be better tomorrow," vowed Lowry.
Jesse Gabrielle scored on Prince George's first opportunity to give the hosts the jump at 4:48 of the opening period. Matthew Phillips, with his 20th goal of the season on a breakaway set up by a Ryan Peckford pass, equalized for Victoria under two minutes later. The first period ended 1-1 as Phillips remained the only Royals scorer in the club's last seven periods. Victoria was shut out 5-0 in Seattle last weekend and Phillips recorded the natural hat-trick in Wednesday鈥檚 4-3 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
The lack of a wider range of scoring options has become a problem for Victoria, a situation worsened by the continued absence of injured sniper Tyler Soy.
Regan Nagy finally broke through for the Royals in the second period to tie the game 2-2 followng Gabrielle's second goal after the Prince George forward hit three posts. Colby McAuley made it 3-2 for the Cougars at 17:21 of the second. Gabrielle, a fourth-round draft pick of the Boston Bruins, completed his hat-trick at 4:10 of the third period.
鈥淸Gabrielle] scored three times and hit the post three times, which means we are giving their guys too much time and space,鈥� said Lowry.
Royals sophomore goaltender Griffen Outhouse, a northern sa国际传媒 boy from the tiny community of Likely who starred in Midget with the Cariboo Cougars, returned to his home region and made 26 saves.
Ty Edmonds, a 20-year-old, was his usual reliable veteran self in making 25 saves.
Missing from the Cougars line-up was blue-liner Brendan Guhle, called up by the Sabres of the NHL on an emergency basis before the game, because of injuries on the Buffalo blue line..
The Royals conclude their two-game set tonight in Prince George.
The long trip up north will be followed by an equally lengthy dip down into the U.S. for a crazily-routed three-game set next week that will take the Royals to Spokane, out to Portland, and back the next night across to eastern Washington state to play Tri-City.
