Cougars to Face Elimination After Falling 5-2 in Portland
PORTLAND, OR – The Prince George Cougars will look to keep their season alive after dropping a 5-2 decision to the Portland Winterhawks in Game 4, Wednesday at the Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.
Hudson Thornton supplied the Cougar offence with a pair of goals on the power-play, and goaltender Ty Young made 34 saves on 39 Winterhawk shots.
GOALS:
1st PERIOD:
1-0 Winterhawks at 9:20 – Gabe Klassen (4) (PP) assisted by James Stefan and Nate Danielson // Gabe Klassen received a pass at the left circle and roofed a wrist shot on the blocker side of Ty Young to give Portland a 1-0 lead.
2-0 Winterhawks at 15:44 – Diego Buttazzoni (2) assisted by Josh Zakreski and Tyson Jugnauth // Winterhawk forward Josh Zakreski wheeled the puck into the Cougars zone, wrapped the puck around the goal and spotted Diego Buttazzoni who fired the puck in the open cage to propel the Hawk lead to 2-0.
2nd PERIOD:
2-1 Winterhawks at 12:47 – Hudson Thornton (5) (PP) – assisted by Ondrej Becher and Riley Heidt // The Cougars headed to a power-play and started to snap the puck around the offensive zone and the puck ended up on the stick of Hudson Thorton at the left circle and wired a shot by Jan Špunar to get the Cats on the board and put them within one.
3-1 Winterhawks at 16:48 – Marcus Nguyen (5) – assisted by Tyson Jugnauth and Nate Danielson // Tyson Jugnauth and Nate Danielson were able to carry the puck into the Cougar zone and trade passes back and forth, and then the puck found Marcus Nguyen at the goal mouth for his sixth playoff goal to make it 3-1.
3rd PERIOD:
4-1 Winterhawks at 5:38 – Marcus Nguyen (6) – assisted by Jack O’Brien and Nate Danielson // The Hawks developed a 3 on 1 and it resulted in a back door feed to Marcus Nguyen who scored his second of the night to make it 4-1.
4-2 Winterhawks at 12:32 – Hudson Thornton (6) (PP) – assisted by Koehn Ziemmer and Ondrej Becher // Hudson Thornton showed tremendous patience at the left circle on the power-play and fired a wrist shot through traffic and by Špunar to make the game 5-2.
5-2 Winterhawks at 14:53 – Nate Danielson (4) – assisted by Jack O’Brien and Marcus Nguyen // Jack O’Brien made a terrific move around Hudson Thornton and drove the puck to the goal that was initially stopped by Young and the rebound was potted home by Nate Danielson to re-gain the three goal Portland lead.
FINAL SCORE:
PG: 2 POR: 5
FINAL SHOTS:
PG: 28 POR: 39
POWER-PLAY:
PG: 2-3 POR: 1-4
GOALTENDING:
PG: Ty Young – 60:00 – 34/39
POR: Jan Špunar – 60:00 – 26/28
3 STARS:
1.POR: Nate Danielson (1-3-4)
2.POR: Marcus Nguyen (2-1-3)
3.POR: Tyson Jugnauth (0-2-2)
POST-GAME INTERVIEW WITH ASSOCIATE COACH JIM PLAYFAIR