Photo Courtesy: Allen Douglas Photography
Giant win for Cougars

Gauthier completes shutout performance in 150th WHL game as Cougars chop down Giants

May 5, 2021 | 9:24 PM

KAMLOOPS, BC – Make it three straight the Prince George Cougars (9-7-2-1) have been able to link together as Koehn Zeimmer showed his scoring touch, tallying two of the Cats’ goals in a 3-0 win over the Vancouver Giants (10-9-0-0) on Wednesday inside the Sandman Centre.

With the win, while it does mark the Cats third straight win, it further marks the sixth consecutive game in which Prince George has registered points as they’ve climbed the BC Divison standings.

Wednesday brought with it a pair of milestones for two players on the Cougars. Defenceman Jack Sander suited up for his 200th game in the WHL. Meanwhile, Goaltender Taylor Gauthier registered his 150th game with his start against the Giants.

Despite getting two opportunities with the man advantage in the opening 20 minutes, the Cougars couldn’t find the back of the net and get one of their nine shots in past Drew Sim.

In the 2nd period, Koehn Zeimmer potted the opening goal for the third-straight game as he now has eight goals for the season. The goal came at 4:36 as the Cougars’ rookie got a step on the Giants defence to break free and deke past Sim.

Later in the period, a scrum behind the Vancouver net with the Cougars having just struggled to muster up a shot on the powerplay. The puck slid out from the scrum onto the stick of Zeimmer, stickhandling with his back to the net before whipping his 2nd into the back of the net.

Prince George took the 2-0 lead into the dressing room after 40 minutes, hoping to cap the victory in the 3rd period with Gauthier putting forth a strong performance. Vancouver carried the advantage in shots on net, keeping the Cougars’ netminder busy with 18 shots through the first two periods.

The Giants couldn’t find a way to solve Gauthier in the final frame, as Tyson Upper potted Prince George’s third goal of the game after Vancouver opted to pull Sim in favour of an extra skater.

In the 3-0 win, Taylor Gauthier completed the perfect putting between the pipes, turning away each of Vancouver’s 26 shots for the shutout. It marks the Calgary product’s 6th shutout in his WHL career, the same night he played in his 150th game in the league.

With the win, Prince George leaps ahead of Vancouver in the BC Division standings, as the Cougars now rank 2nd with the division.

The Cougars will be off for the next two days as they will not be back on the ice until Saturday against the Victoria Royals.