Prince George Shuts Down Tri-City 3-0

Prince George, BC- Tri-City couldn’t seem to get going tonight.

After a win last night, the Tri-City Americans (39-24-1-2, 81 pts) followed it up with a dismal performance, falling to the Prince George Cougars (19-38-2-6, 46 pts) 3-0 at the CN Centre.

The Americans snapped a two game win streak while the Cougars end a five game losing skid. This is the fourth time Tri-City has been shutout this season.

The game got off to a slow start with both teams finding their rhythm for the first half of the period. Prince George outshot Tri-City 11-10 and had three power plays in the period, including a 5-on-3 opportunity for 51 seconds, but the Americans killed off all three penalties. With 40 seconds left in the period, Troy Bourke was able to fire a loose puck into the net to give the Cougars a 1-0 lead through 20 minutes.

Tri-City couldn’t get anything going in the second period either even though they outshot Prince George 9-8. Bourke added another goal midway through the period during 4-on-4 play as he deked past a couple of defenders and slipped a backhand past Troy Trombley to increase the lead to 2-0. Later in the period, Colin Jacobs increased the lead to three on the power play as he fired a slap shot from the point through traffic into the top left corner of the net.

The Americans had a steep mountain to climb in the third period, but were still unable to get anything going in the third period. Tri-City tied a season low with two shots in the third and had some rare chances in front of the Prince George net to score but couldn’t capitalize. Mac Engel was terrific in net and the Cougars played solid defense down the stretch to cruise to the 3-0 win.

Justin Feser snaps a nine game point streak, his second longest point streak of the season.

The Americans were unable to produce a goal in their lone power play chance and gave up one power play goal out of four Prince George power play chances.

Trombley made 25 saves in a losing effort while Engel stopped all 21 shots he faced to earn his second shutout of the season.

The Americans will make the long trek back to the Tri-Cities for two games, starting by welcoming the Kootenay Ice (33-31-2-0, 68 pts) to the Toyota Center on March 8 for the only meeting between the two teams this season. Game time is at 7:05 p.m. The Americans won a pre-season meeting between the two teams 6-3 and earned a victory in the only regular season meeting last season 5-4 in Kootenay. NewsTalk 870 will broadcast the game starting at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show. WHL Live will stream the game beginning at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are still available at the Toyota Center Box Office, at any Fred Meyer outlet, at any Ticketmaster location or online at Ticketmaster.com.

Jack in the Box Three Stars:
1. Troy Bourke, Prince George
2. Dallas Ehrhardt, Prince George
3. Mac Engel, Prince George