Josh Zakreski’s hat-trick performance led the Portland Winterhawks to a 4-1 victory complete over the visiting Prince George Cougars Friday night, completing a four-game regular season sweep of the Cats.
Ondrej Stebetak stopped 39 of 40 shots to send the Cougars to their 10th regulation loss of the season.
Kaed Ruedig also scored for the Winterhawks (17-12-2-0) who crept to within a point of the Cougars (16-10-3-2) in the WHL Western Conference standings.
The Prince George loss, combined with the Victoria Royals’ 4-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants Friday allowed the Royals to move two points ahead of the Cougars into first place in the BC Division.
The Cats peppered Stebetak with 16 shots in each of the first two periods but had only one goal to show for it. Borya Valis notched his 16th of the season, an unassisted tally, 11 minutes into the game with the Cougars trailing 2-0.
The Cats outshot the Winterhawks 39-34.
Josh Ravensbergen took the loss in goal.
The Winterhawks went 4-0 in the season series.
They won 3-2 in regulation Oct 5 in Portland, then defeated the Cougars in both games at CN Centre, 4-3 in overtime Oct 8 and 5-4 in a shootout Oct. 9.
Ther Cougars move on to Spokane, where they’ll take on the Chiefs Saturday (6:05 p.m., 94.3 FM, The Goat).
The Cats will also play in Kelowna on Tuesday to finish off their four-game trip heading into the Christmas break.
