Tyler Soy won it in overtime for the Royals one night earlier by a 3-2 score, helping take 3 of 4 points from the Cougars.
2nd place Victoria (22-19-2-1, 47 pts)widened their gap to 6 points on 3rd place Prince George (20-23-1-0, 41 pts) in the BC Division.
Saturday the Royals power play went 3 for 6, including two 5 on 3 power play goals just :27 seconds apart early in the first period. They shut down 6 of 7 Cougar man advantages.
Greg Chase and Brandon Magee had a goal and assist each, while Joe Hicketts and Austin Carroll chipped in with a pair of helpers each. Tyler Soy added an assist to extend his point streak to 9 games with 15 points over that span (8g 7a).
Justin Paulic in his debut between the pipes earned the win for Victoria with 26 saves, while his counterpart Patrick Gora in his first WHL game, took the loss making 30 stops.
The Royals wrapped up their 7 game home stand winning 5 games, including a split of the Cougars at the beginning of the set as they met 4 times over 15 days.
Victoria takes a 4-2 season series lead, and will meet twice more in Prince George March 6th and 7th.
The Royals have now won back to back games, while the Cougars are now winless in 3 (0-2-1-0).
Victoria will now head out on a three game Central Division road trip for 3 games in 3 nights next weekend, beginning in Red Deer, then Calgary Hitmen and Edmonton.
The Royals return home for a two game series against the Kamloops Blazers on Friday, January 23rd and Saturday, January 24th. Puck drop for both games is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Get your tickets in advance by calling 250-220-7777 or visiting at www.victoriaroyals.com.
- Marlon Martens
Prince George Cougars 2 at Victoria Royals 5 - Status: Final
Saturday, January 10, 2015 - Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena - Victoria, BC
Prince George 0 0 2 - 2
Victoria 3 0 2 - 5
1st Period-
1, Victoria, Chase 9 (Hicketts, Carroll), 3:34 (PP).
2, Victoria, Magee 14 (Chase, Hicketts), 4:01 (PP).
3, Victoria, Forsberg 14 (Soy, Carroll), 16:40.
Penalties-Babych P.g (high sticking, high sticking), 2:34; Macklin P.g (tripping), 2:38; Ruopp P.g (major-fighting), 17:13; Forsberg Vic (charging, slashing, major-fighting), 17:13.
2nd Period-
No Scoring.
Penalties-Fisher Vic (holding), 0:10; Brown Vic (hooking), 5:32; Ibragimov Vic (interference), 16:49.
3rd Period-
4, Victoria, Forsberg 15 (Magee, Gagnon), 1:42.
5, Victoria, Forsberg 16 (Dmytriw, Hannoun), 4:06 (PP).
6, Prince George, Morrison 16 (Erricson, Hopkins), 4:58.
7, Prince George, Connolly 6 6:32 (PP).
Penalties-Collins P.g (closing hand on puck), 2:41; Carroll Vic (slashing), 5:53; Walker Vic (high sticking), 11:16; Macklin P.g (interference), 15:36; Anderson P.g (10-minute misconduct), 19:01; McAuley P.g (slashing), 19:01; Crunk Vic (10-minute misconduct), 19:01; Macklin P.g (roughing), 20:00; Nagy Vic (roughing), 20:00.
Shots on Goal-
Prince George 8-15-5-28.
Victoria 13-5-17-35.
Power Play Opportunities-
Prince George 1 / 7;
Victoria 3 / 6.
Goalies-
Prince George, Gora 0-1-0-0 (35 shots-30 saves).
Victoria, Paulic 7-8-1-1 (28 shots-26 saves).
A-4,697
Referees-Brett Iverson (24), Mark Pearce (5).
Linesmen-Jeff MacAdams, Riley Friesen (76).
