The Prince George Cougars are coming home from Oregon trailing the Portland Winterhawks 2-0 in their WHL playoff series and nobody is pointing any of the blame at Tyler Brennan.
In his first start in goal since April 1st, coming off an injury that sidelined him for the last six games of the regular season, Brennan was simply spectacular. Ranked as the top North American goalie available for the NHL draft this summer his stellar efforts to keep the Cougars in the game Saturday in Portland did nothing but bolster his ranking with the pro scouts after he made 44 saves in a 2-1 Game 2 loss.
The powerful Portland offence that ran roughshod over the Western Hockey League, averaging 4.38 goals per game in a 68-game regular season, was held in check by a determined bunch of Cougars who sacrificed their bodies with shot blocks and tight defensive-zone coverage that limited the ‘Hawks’ options once they got into dangerous areas of the rink.
Brennan’s rebound control limited second shot opportunities and unlike Friday’s 5-2 loss in the opener, this time the Cougar penalty-killing squad was perfect, not allowing a goal on five two-minute opportunities for Portland. That’s still too many penalties for the young Cougars to take in a game and expect to still have a chance of winning. But with Brennan in net, they stayed one shot away from tying it, right to the bitter end.
All three goals of the game were scored by defencemen.
An aggressive forecheck led to the opening goal for the Winterhawks, 13 minutes in. Tyson Kozak levelled Cats defenceman Hudson Thornton with a shoulder check behind the Cougar net and the puck was sent back to the point for Kurtis Smythe, whose slapper through a crowd got past a screened Brennan.
Portland rookie blueliner Luca Cagnoni joined a rush late in the second period and was rewarded with his first goal of the playoffs. Cagnoni kept his feet moving and took a short pass from Kozak as he skated between defencemen Hudson Thornton and Ethan Samson and Cagnoni’s quick shot got through Brennan with six minutes left in the period.
Having survived their third penalty kill of the game unscathed, the Cougars offence sparked to life when former Winterhawk defenceman Jonas Brondberg took a feed from Koehn Ziemmer and scored on a shot from the low slot that deflected off the leg of Portland defenceman Ryan McLeary and skipped off the ice before it found the net low just inside the post behind Taylor Gauthier. That made it a 2-1 game heading into the second intermission.
“I thought our depth (was the difference),” said Cagnoni, on the Winterhawks’ Twitter feed. “We’re rolling four lines most of the game and (head coach Mike Johnston) trusts us to do the right things every shift.
“Obviously sometimes you’ve got to step up if someone’s in he box or if someone’s hurt and I thought we did a really good job of that tonight.”
Portland finished 45 points ahead of the Cougars in the Western Conference standings but you’d never know it watching the two teams go at it. Although they lacked finish around the net, the Cougars showed they’re not all intimidated by the Winterhawks and their vaunted net-filling abilities and the Cats have to be feeling better about their chances of winning a game or two in the series now that it’s coming back to Prince George.
“I think that’s two games in a row when we’ve had them on the ropes in one way or another,” said Cougars’ associate coach Josh Dixon. “It’s absolutely impressive with the compete (level) and guys stepping up and the pace we’re playing at against a really good, really deep team is impressive. Very easily we could have come out of here with a split, we played well enough, and showed we can play with this team and we can certainly beat this team. It felt like tonight we wee going to tie it up and send it to overtime.”
Brennan, who gave up just one goal on 29 shots in Game 1 in a relief effort, made his first big stop of the night four minutes in when he flicked his glove out to deny Jaydon Dureau from point-blank range and not long after he got his blocker in the way of a Kozak blast that had goal written all over it. Brennan also excelled as the Cougars’ best penalty killer, stopping all four shots the ‘Hawks sent his way while Keaton Dowhaniuk cooled his heels in the penalty box. In the two playoff games combined Brennan has allowed just three goals on 73 shots.
“The saves he made, moving laterally, we kill off five penalties in a large part because of the saves he made,” said Dixon. “He made timely saves and I thought he did everything he could to give us a chance to win and you can’t fault him on either goal. That’s the kind of goaltending you need to win in the playoffs and we certainly got it tonight.”
Right winger Robbie Fromm-Delorme was a super-pest for the Winterhawks and always seemed to be dangerous when he had the puck in the offensive zone. He finished with two assists and had five shots on net. James Stefan and Dureau didn’t get on the scoresheet but it wasn’t for a lack of trying, each putting seven shots on goal.
Samson was a standout on the Cougar blueline with his physical play and his efforts to lead offensive rushes. The 18-year-old Philadelphia Flyers’ draft pick took a Ryker Singer chip-pass and broke in on a 3-on-1 chance 11 minutes in that forced Gauthier to make a save that deflected the puck out of harm’s way.
The Cougars host the next two games in the series, Tuesday and Wednesday at CN Centre.
LOOSE PUCKS: Cougars winger Craig Armstrong sat out the first game of a two-game suspension for his high hit on Smythe with five seconds left in Friday’s series opener…. The Cougars dressed 11 forwards, seven defencemen and two goalies. Sixteen-year-old defenceman Ephram McNutt made his WHL debut, wearing No. 32. The Red Deer, Alta., native was a fifth-round pick of the Cougars in the 2020 draft…. The ‘Hawks were without their top defenceman, Clay Hanus, who suffered an injury in the first period of Game 1. Hanus finished second in the WHL for points by a defenceman with 74, including 18 goals. The 21-year-old Minnesota native played all 68 regular season games.
WHL playoffs
Western Conference quarterfinal
Prince George Cougars vs. Portland Winterhawks
(Winterhawks lead best-of-seven series 2-0)
Saturday summary
Game 2
Cougars 1 at Winterhawks 2
First Period
1. Portland, Smythe 1 (Kozak) 13:09
Penalties – Dowhaniuk PG (cross-checking) 7:28.
Second Period
2. Portland, Cagnoni 1 (Kozak, Fromm-Delorme) 13:54
3. Prince George, Brondberg 1 (Ziemmer, Heidt) 16:29
Penalties – Dezainde PG (hooking) 1:55, Ziemmer PG (hooking) 6:44, Singer PG (roughing), Alscher Por (roughing) 9:45, Hanas Por (roughing) 17:02.
Third Period
2. Portland, Cagnoni 1 (Kozak, Fromm-Delorme) 13:54
3. Prince George, Brondberg 1 (Ziemmer, Heidt) 16:29
Penalties – Heidt PG (tripping) 7:00, Brondberg PG (tripping) 10:38,
Shots on goal by
Prince George 7 8 7 -23
Portland 16 11 18 -46
Goal – Prince George, Brennan (L,0-1); Portland: Gauthier (W,2-0)
Power plays – PG: 0-1; Por: 0-5.
Attendance – 4,678.
Referees – Nick Panter, Bryan Bourdon; Linesmen: Jarod Boman, Erik Freeman
