BY COLE WALDIE
Prince George Cougars
PORTLAND, OR – The Prince George Cougars’ season is on the line after a dramatic 5-4 double-overtime loss to the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Diego Buttazzoni of the Winterhawks scored the overtime winner at 17:57 of the second overtime frame.
Portland struck first for the fourth consecutive game, as Carter Sotheran’s power-play point shot found the back of the net just 2:16 into the first period. The Cougars responded late, with Borya Valis scoring his second goal of the series at 17:35, but Portland answered swiftly at 18:50 to take a 2-1 lead into the intermission.
The second period saw the Cougars battle back once again. Matteo Danis delivered a determined effort on the power play at 18:13, marking Prince George’s first man-advantage goal of the series and leveling the score at two heading into the third.
Portland regained the lead at 2:37 of the third with another power-play goal, this time from Hudson Darby. The Cougars, however, struck back with a power-play tally of their own, as Koehn Ziemmer buried his first goal of the series at 6:38 to even the score once more. The intensity ramped up in the closing moments, with Carson Carels giving Prince George its first lead of the night at 18:06, firing a shot from the left point through traffic. However, with their net empty, Portland forced overtime when Ryan Miller pounced on a rebound with just 24 seconds remaining.
Prince George battled through a scoreless first overtime, surviving two penalty kills and getting a highlight-reel goal-line save from Corbin Vaughan to stay alive. In the second overtime, the Cougars had a golden opportunity on the power play, but Portland netminder Ondrej Stebetak made four clutch saves to deny them the win. The game came to a heartbreaking end when Buttazzoni capitalized on a fortuitous bounce off the end boards, slipping the puck through Josh Ravensbergen’s legs to secure the victory for Portland.
With the loss, the Cougars now face a must-win situation in Game 5 on Friday. A victory would extend the series and bring the battle back to Prince George, while a loss would end their playoff run.