PRINCE GEORGE聽 4
VICTORIA聽 2
The Victoria Royals were given a strange 1-0 lead by the 1:01 mark of the first period on Saturday night in Prince George against the Cougars, but quickly had the rug pulled out from under them in a 4-2 setback.
The loss snapped a five-game win streak as the Western Hockey League club returns home this week for Wednesday and Friday dates against the visiting Kelowna Rockets at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Jansen Harkins started the evening off in a bizarre way with an own goal in front of 4,335 bewildered fans at the CN Centre.
On a delayed penalty call, the Cougars鈥� forward threw the puck back to the point, only to see it slide the length of the rink into an empty net as goalie Ty Edmonds had vacated it in favour of an extra attacker.
Jack Walker was originally credited with the goal for Victoria, but it was later changed to Carter Folk as he was the last player to touch the puck.
That lead lasted just 4:41 as Sam Ruopp evened the score.
Tate Olson, on a power play midway through the first frame, and Colby McAuley, at 15:30, then gave the hosts a 3-1 advantage in a lop-sided opening 20 minutes. The Cougars out-shot Victoria 20-5 over the frame as Royals netminder Griffen Outhouse was kept busy.
Final shots were 42-22 for Prince George.
After a 2-1 victory the previous night (Victoria鈥檚 third straight against their provincial rivals), Royals head coach Dave Lowry expected a bigger push-back from the Cougars, who improved to 28-11-2-0.
He certainly got it.
鈥淚 did expect it and I expected more out of our group as well. We got put on our heels early and we didn鈥檛 recover,鈥� said Lowry, whose team slipped to 22-16-4-0.
鈥淭hat was our only offence for a good portion of the game,鈥� Lowry said of the Cougars鈥� own goal.
Strangely enough, it was the second Lowry witnessed in his time with Victoria as the Royals benefited from one in his first season against Tri-Cities.
鈥淎nd we鈥檙e a pretty good team when we score the first goal, but this was a game where you learn a lot about yourself, and we weren鈥檛 good enough. I can鈥檛 fault the effort, but there are no excuses, we just have to be better,鈥� Lowry said.
Newly acquired Russian forward Nikita Popugaev made it 4-1 early in the second period for the Cougars, after collecting an assist in his debut the previous night. The potential first-round NHL draft pick was acquired via trade from Moose Jaw on Thursday.
Tyler Soy got one back for Victoria on a power play midway through the final period with the only goal Victoria actually scored.
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