Roulston, Hanes each score twice as the Cougars down the Royals 5-4

VICTORIA - Brett Roulston and Ryan Hanes both scored twice as the Prince George Cougars defeated the host Victoria Royals 5-4 on Friday in Western Hockey League action.

Colin Jacobs also scored for the Cougars (9-11-4) while Alex Forsberg had three assists.

Steven Hodges, Jamie Crooks, Ben Walker and Brandon Magee responded for the Royals (12-12-0).

Victoria opened the scoring five minutes into the first when Prince George's goaltender Mac Engel whiffed on a long point shot by Hodges.

The Cougars responded just 45 seconds later with a point shot of their own by Roulston that eluded Victoria's goaltender Patrik Polivka.

The Cougars took a 2-1 lead on a snap shot by Hanes that went right under the crossbar from a pass by Forsberg.

Prince George boosted their lead to 3-1 with only three seconds left in the first when Jacobs blasted one in on the power play, again from Forsberg.

Roulston got his second goal of the game early in the second period to make it 4-1 as he beat Polivka in the top corner under the crossbar. The goal chased Polivka from net as backup Coleman Vollrath took over in relief.

Crooks brought the Royals to within two goals on the power play when he converted a pass from Magee in the slot, snapping it top corner past Engel.

Walker made the game 4-3 with a quick release off an Alex Gogolev feed from the right face-off circle, but Prince George stretched the lead to two goals again when Hanes scored a juicy rebound for his second of the game.

Magee deflected in a Brett Cote slap shot in the second half of the third, making the game 5-4, but that's as close as the Royals would get.

Engel made 20 saves for the win as Polivka allowed four goals on 15 shots in 23 minutes of action. Vollrath stopped 12-of-13 shots in relief.

Prince George went 2-for-6 on the power play while Victoria scored once on four chances with the man advantage.