By Aaron Mahoney (@Mahones93 on Twitter)

Cozens scores OT winner as Hurricanes’ winning streak hits four games

Dec 5, 2018 | 8:41 PM

CRANBROOK – Coaches sometimes call them trap games, where a team plays down to their competition and gets burned, but not on this night (Dec. 5) as the Lethbridge Hurricanes battled back from a 2-1 deficit in the 2nd period to take down the Kootenay Ice 3-2 in overtime.

Dylan Cozens 15th goal of the season would stand up as the winner, coming 1:17 into OT to give the Hurricanes a fourth straight victory since picking up Jake Leschyshyn and Nick Henry.

After killing off a Zach Cox hooking penalty early in the 1st period, Lethbridge would open the scoring. Defenceman Alex Cotton buried his second goal of the season past Ice goaltender Jesse Makaj at 8:24, off a pass from Keltie Jeri-Leon.

A few minutes later Jake Elmer was whistled for hooking, but the Hurricanes killed it off and headed into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead. Lethbridge outshot the Ice 17-13 in the 1st.

In the 2nd period, it would be the Ice carrying the play. They wasted no time, as just past the one minute mark of the middle frame Cole Muir beat Lethbridge netminder Reece Klassen to knot the game up at 1-1. Kootenay would keep pressing, and at 12:39 of the 2nd period it would be Jakin Smallwood making it 2-1 for the home side by scoring just his second goal of the season.

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But the Hurricanes would stabilize after going down a goal, and less than four minutes after losing the lead, Leschyshyn scored his first goal as a member of the Hurricanes to even the game at 2-2.

That’s how things would sit heading to the 3rd period, with the Hurricanes outshooting the Ice 27-25 after 40 minutes of play.

Lethbridge had great chances to take the lead in the 3rd period, with a pair of power plays as well as outshooting the Ice 10-4, but neither Makaj nor Klassen would relent and it was off to overtime where Cozens would end it.

The Hurricanes outshot the Ice 39-30 for the game, while both teams finished 0-for-2 on the power play.

Calen Addison will soon be off to Victoria for Team Canada’s selection camp, but before that he factored in on both Hurricanes goals in this one. He’s now up to 30 points on the season in 28 games played.

On top of his goal, Leschyshyn had the primary assist on the game-winner and since coming to the Hurricanes has four points in four games played.

Lethbridge now sits at 15-8-3-2 on the season, and will now travel to Spokane to take on the Chiefs on Friday, Dec. 7 before heading to Washington State to take on the Tri-City Americans on Saturday, Dec. 8.