The Prince George Cougars are down to the final lifeline with no margin for error.
One more loss and their season is done.
Nate Danielson and the Portland Winterhawks made sure of that Wednesday night in Portland, winning 5-2 - their third-straight victory in the WHL Western Conference final.
Leading the best-of-seven series 3-1, the ‘Hawks have a chance to wrap it up on home ice at Veterans Memorial Arena Thursday (7 p.m. start) in Game 5 .
Danielson was virtually unstoppable creating offence. For the third straight game he set up three goals and also put one in the net himself, scoring the fifth Portland goal.
That’s 10 points in three games for Danielson, the Detroit Red Wings’ ninth-overall pick in 2023, acquired by the ‘Hawks in a January trade from the Brandon Wheat Kings.
Marcus Nguyen, Danielson’s linemate, scored twice. Gabe Klassen and Diego Buttazzoni had the others for Portland.
Defenceman Hudson Thornton fired in both Cougar goals.
Once again, a poor start put the Cats behind early when they got into penalty trouble. Zac Funk was caught tripping in the offensive zone, his second penalty in the first nine minutes, and on the ensuing Portland power play, James Stafan took the puck from Danielson and fed it from behind the net to Gabe Klassen in the face-off circle and he whipped a perfect wrister in over Ty Young’s shoulder.
A breakdown in defensive zone coverage led to the second Winterhawks goal six minutes later. Josh Zakreski carried the puck around the Cougar net and one-handed a pass to a wide-open Buttazzoni, who had an open net to shoot at with Young committed to the opposite post expecting a wraparound from Zakreski.
With the exception of one power-play flurry, the Cougar offence failed to gain any traction and they managed just five shots in the opening period, making it easy for goalie Jan Spunar.
“We’ve got to focus on ourselves and do things more consistently,” said Cougars associate coach Jim Playfair. “I don’t think our defence did a good job moving pucks up the ice. It’s a smaller rink, it’s a smaller neutral zone and things happen a lot quicker. If we’re not committed to taking care of the puck out of our zone into the neutral zone and establishing a forecheck and holding onto pucks in the offensive zone, then we’re not going to win hockey games in this building.”
As disorganized as they looked in the opening 20 minutes it was a different story for the Cougars in the second period. Two minutes into the period, Koehn Ziemmer was sent in alone on a breakaway chance that ended with a shot into Spunar’s chest. Led by the Funk-Riley Heidt-Borya Valis line, the Cats controlled the puck and pressured the 'Hawks with some sustained zone time and their shots started getting through to Spunar, but the Czechian netminder seemed bullet-proof.
They finally got to him on a Prince George power play late in the period. After some crisp passing and fast feet to keep the puck in deep, Heidt passed to Ondrej Becher in the slot and he spied Thornton moving into the circle and the Cougar captain snapped it in for his fifth of the playoffs.
But they were unable to limit the damage Danielson has done to them since Game 2. He took the puck from Tyson Jugnauth down the right wing and shoveled a pass into the crease for Nguyen, who redirected the puck and it hit the skate of Cougar defenceman Keaton Dowhaniuk before it went into the net to restore the two-goal lead.
And Danielson had plenty more in store.
With six minutes gone in the third period he chipped the puck up the boards over Thornton stick and took off on a 2-on-1 with Nguyen. Danielson ‘s shot from the left wing was kicked out by Young but he tracked down the loose puck behind the net and found Jack O’Brien with his pass and the Portland winger dished it to Nguyen, who had nothing but net to shoot at for his second of the game and a 4-1 lead.
“I thought they had too many shots from the front of our net,” said Playfair. “There were times our net was wide-open and they’re standing there jumping pucks into the open net and we haven’t seen that much this year. So now we have to regroup and get ready to defend a lot harder.”
Thornton scored again on the power play with about seven minutes left, but the ‘Hawks ended the suspense when O’Brien cut into the middle of the ice with a net-drive and let go a short-range shot. The rebound came right to Danielson who scored on a backhander.
The ‘Hawks outshot the Cougars 39-28. Spunar made 26 saves to improve his playoff record to 11-1.
It’s the first time all season the Cougars have lost three in a row. They need to win Thursday to extend the series to Game 6 in Prince George on Monday.
“For a lot of our players, this is foreign territory,” said Playfair. “If you look at Portland, they’ve got a lot of veteran players that have been in this environment before, so our guys, they’ve got to grow up fast.
“It’s harder to win as you go along and I think our guys are recognizing now that for some guys it’s too hard, and they’ve got to dig deeper and find a way. That’s the business side of winning a championship. Now isn’t the time of year to feel sorry for people who say they’re learning or too young or they’ll do better as they get a little older. Now’s your chance. You want to be a winner, do it now.”
LOOSE PUCKS: Both teams were missing key players. The Cougars were without RW Terik Parascak, who suffered a badly bruised chest after he collided with Nguyen at the end of the second period in Game 3 Monday. C Hunter Laing was also sidelined. Winterhawks’ Luca Cagnoni, who led all WHL defencemen in scoring with 90 points, has missed the entire series with an unspecified injury. RW Josh Davies hasn’t played since Game 1, believed to be out with a lower-body injury ... Lee Shurgot played his first career WHL playoff game Wednesday, centering a Prince George line with Nicholas McLennan and Jett Lajoie. Shurgot was the Cougars’ first-round pick, ninth overall, in the 2023 WHL Prospects draft ... While the Cougars celebrated Mark Lamb getting selected as WHL coach of the year and executive of the year, Cats goalie Joshua Ravensbergen was picked as rookie of the month for April. He went 6-2 to start the postseason and had three playoff shutouts while compiling 2.10 goals against average and .930 save percentage ... The Saskatoon Blades tied the Eastern Conference final 2-2 with a 5-4 overtime win Wednesday over the Moose Jaw Warriors in Moose Jaw. Egor Sidorov notched the winner, 3:29 into OT. Saskatoon defenceman Tanner Molendyk was the game’s first star after scoring the Blades’ third goal. That sends the series back to Saskatoon for Game 5 Friday night, with Game 6 to be played Sunday afternoon in Moose Jaw.
WHL Western Conference final
Prince George Cougars vs. Portland Winterhawks
(Winterhawks lead best-of-seven series 3-1)
Game 4
Wednesday summary
Cougars 2 at Winterhawks 5
First Period
1. Portland, Klassen 4 (Stefan, Danielson) 9:20 (pp)
2. Portland, Buttazzoni 2 (Zakreski, Jugnauth) 15:44
Penalties – Funk PG (roughing) 1:10, Nguyen Por (high-sticking) 3:22, Funk PG (tripping) 8:22.
Second Period
3. Prince George, Thornton 5 (Becher, Heidt) 12:47 (pp)
4. Portland, Nguyen 5 (Danielson, Jugnauth) 16:48
Penalty – Danielson Por (high-sticking) 11:48
Third Period
5. Portland, Nguyen 6 (O’Brien, Danielson) 5:38
6. Prince George, Thornton 6 (Ziemmer, Becher) 12:32 (pp)
7. Portland, Danielson 4 (O’Brien, Nguyen) 14:53
Penalties – Pauls PG (kneeing) 1:53, Heidt PG (roughing), Danielson Por (roughing) 10:43, Zakreski Por (hooking)12:22, Kmec PG (holding) 16:10.
Shots on goal by
Prince George 5 11 12 -28
Portland 14 9 16 -39
Goal – Prince George, Young (L,1-2); Portland, Spunar (W,11-1).
Power plays – PG: 2-3; Por: 1-4.
Referees - Mike Campbell, Adam Forbes; Linesmen – Nick Albinati, Dustin Minty.
Attendance - 5,769.
