BY COLE WALDIE
Prince George Cougars
PORTLAND, OR – The Portland Winterhawks jumped out to a 2-0 first-period lead and never looked back, defeating the Prince George Cougars 6-3 on Tuesday at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. With the win, Portland now leads the series two games to one.
The Winterhawks came out flying in the opening period, registering the first six shots of the game and striking first at the 4:10 mark. A fortunate bounce off the stanchion landed on the stick of Alex Weiermair, who buried it to give Portland a 1-0 lead. Weiermair struck again at 9:33 on the power play, walking into the circle and firing a laser past Josh Ravensbergen to make it 2-0.
The Cougars found their footing as the period progressed and were rewarded at 19:07 when Bauer Dumanski finished a terrific feed from Riley Heidt, picking the top corner on Ondrej Stebetak to cut the deficit to 2-1 heading into intermission.
In the second period, Tyson Jugnauth restored Portland’s two-goal lead at 3:42, but Prince George responded swiftly. Jett Lajoie and Aiden Foster capitalized on a Portland turnover, with Lajoie netting his first of the series at 4:18. Moments later, Koehn Ziemmer and Josh Zakreski dropped the gloves in a spirited bout. The Winterhawks then regained control with two crucial goals from Carter Sotheran at 10:08 and 16:29, extending their lead to 5-2 after 40 minutes.
The Cougars clawed back in the third, as Lee Shurgot notched his first WHL playoff goal at 6:51 to make it 5-3. However, Portland sealed the victory with a power-play goal at 17:08, as Alex Weiermair completed his hat trick. Prior to the goal, Riley Heidt was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for cross-checking.
Prince George will look to bounce back with a win Wednesday to even the series and force a Game 6 at the CN Centre on Sunday.