CALGARY - Victor Rask and Zane Jones each had a goal and an assist to lead the Calgary Hitmen to a 5-3 win over the Prince George Cougars in Western Hockey League action on Friday.
Jesse Zgraggen, Alex Roach and Greg Chase also scored for the Hitmen (31-11-4), while rookie forward Jake Virtanen had a pair of assists.
With the win, the Hitmen moved into top spot in the WHL’s Eastern Conference ahead of the Edmonton Oil Kings (30-11-5), who lost 2-1 to the Medicine Hat Tigers on Friday.
The win came at a cost for the Hitmen though as Roach took a puck to the throat early in the second period and was taken to hospital for precautionary reasons.
Dallas Ehrhardt, Marc McNulty and Zach Pochiro scored for the Cougars (13-25-6), who built up a 2-1 lead in the first period before the Hitmen rallied to score four straight goals.
Calgary goalie Chris Driedger made 19 saves to pick up his 25th win of the season as Prince George netminder Brett Zarowny stopped 29-of-34 shots in defeat.
After Zgraggen scored for Calgary at 2:55 of the first period, Ehrhardt and McNulty replied for Prince George to give the Cougars a 2-1 lead.
Roach tied up the game for Calgary before the end of the first and then Virtanen set up Chase for a short-handed goal early in the second.
After Rask converted a feed from Jones late in the second, the Swedish centreman returned the favour and assisted on Jones’ 17th goal of the season in the third period.
Pochiro then rounded out the scoring when he scored on a penalty shot after being hauled down by Virtanen with 37.3 seconds left in the game.
Calgary went 0 for 6 on the power play while Prince George went 1 for 6.
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