An injury-plagued Vancouver Giants suffered their third straight defeat, extending their winless streak to six games by losing to Prince George Cougars 5-2 on Saturday night at CN Centre.
Jakob Oreskovic and Misha Volotovskii scored for Vancouver, while Burke Hood made 38 saves on 42 shots.
Vancouver played Saturday with five regulars out of the lineup due to injury, including three of their top-4 defencemen and two top-six forwards.
Giants assistant coach Gaelan Patterson said the Cougars “caught us off guard a little bit, but for us to dig back and keep our game face on and get competing again and work through that, it was good. We were proud of that. When we get healthy, it’s going to be a dangerous hockey team for sure.”
The Cougars got out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period, but Vancouver kept things close, getting the game back to 4-2 after 40 minutes. The only goal in the third was an empty-net goal for the home side that sealed the deal 5-2.
Oreskovic got Vancouver on the board with a much-needed power play marker at the 6:05 mark of the second, when he wired a shot over the shoulder of Alexander Levshyn for his 10th of the season.
Cougars restored their three-goal lead off an odd-man rush midway through the middle frame but Volotovskii got it back for the Giants with his first goal in a Vancouver uniform, making it a 4-2 score after 40 minutes.
The Giants begin a five-game homestand next Saturday against Kelowna, 7 p.m. at Langley Events Centre.