The 2024 WHL Western Conference Championship series shifted to the ‘Rose City’ for Game Three after the first two were played in ‘B.C.’s Northern Capital.’
The Portland Winterhawks blitzed the Prince George Cougars for three goals in the first 9:40 of the game. Marcus Nguyen scored his first-career playoff hat trick, Nate Danielson assisted on a trio of goals, and Jan Špunar turned aside 30-of-31 shots to help Portland to a 4-1 win and a 2-1 series lead.
The Winterhawks appeared to be shot out of a cannon the moment the puck dropped. James Stefan had a breakaway less than 15 seconds into the contest. It was a sign of things to come for Portland.
“I think our guys feel really comfortable on home ice, obviously. I thought we played well in Game Two up there and carried that momentum here in how we want to play our style of play,” Portland’s president, general manager, and head coach Mike Johnston said postgame on Monday. “When you have a start like that, it builds some momentum in the building and gets the energy going on the bench and in the stands; that’s our home-ice advantage.”
On the next shift, Danielson, a signed Detroit Red Wings first-round prospect, assisted on the first of three goals. He took the puck wide into the Cougars zone and circled behind the net before putting a pass on the tape of 19-year-old Marcus Nguyen. The Calgary, Alberta, native made no mistake putting it to Josh Ravensbergen’s left for a 1-0 Portland lead just 73 seconds into Game Three.
The Winterhawks kept up the pressure and continued to attack the offensive zone with speed. Danielson entered in full stride and drew three Prince George defenders to him along the half wall. Nguyen found the open ice in the slot and presented his stick for another tape-to-tape pass from Danielson. Selected in the 11th round of the 2019 WHL Prospects Draft, Nguyen converted for his second of the night.
“I’ve got McDavid over here dishing to me,” Nguyen joked of the play of his linemate Danielson “I tried to get them off quick, and I got fortunate.”
Danielson was focused on making smart decisions with the puck and credited Nguyen’s ability to get open. “I came in wide on both plays. I think they kind of got a little puck-focused, and Marcus did a good job of finding ice. I was able to find him on both. I don’t know if that is something that they are trying to do or not, but it just worked out good,” he said.
Less than three minutes later, Danielson gave way to defenseman Marek Alscher.
Again, another Winterhawk skater caught the Cougars standing still. A signed prospect of the Florida Panthers, Alscher made a move at the blue line, and cut to the top of the far face-off dot before sending a wicked wrist shot to the far-side of Ravensbergen.
Following Alscher’s second postseason goal, Prince George general manager and head coach Mark Lamb replaced Ravensbergen with the 19-year-old Vancouver Cannucks property Ty Young.
“It was pretty simple: we didn’t start on time and got behind a very good team. They can play like that and can bring it. You have to change momentum. I would’ve called a timeout there to just settle the guys down, but it was time to change,” Lamb said of the decision.
The Cougars killed off two penalties in the opening 20 minutes and earned their first power play late in the frame.
Twenty-nine seconds of Josh Zakreski’s high-sticking penalty carried over to the middle period, which served as the first of three in the middle stanza.
Riley Heidt, a future Minnesota Wild forward, commented on the looks his team had on the power plays, saying, “I think obviously power plays are different in the playoffs. You have to capitalize on the chances you are getting. It has been a little frustrating, but we are getting looks. I think we have to step up as a team in general, and stuff is going to start falling in.”
Portland had a pair of opportunities on the man advantage as well; however, neither team was able to convert during the 5-on-4 situations.
“They obviously have a ton of skill on it, so it was just limiting the higher-risk plays as we can. We have a good structure in place, so we are going to rely on our goalie to make some saves, and he did. We want to stay off the kill as much as we can,” Heidt said.
The best chance for the Cougars came with Zac Funk parked to the left of Špunar. The pass slightly handcuffed him, and required the Washington Capitals prospect to kick the puck from his skate to the tape of his stick. The extra split second gave Špunar enough time to push across and get a glove on the overager’s wrist shot.
“I thought Špunar was great in the second period,” Johnston said. He was confident, in the zone, and pucks were sticking to him. I thought he was very good.”
Tensions started to rise as the top two teams in the Western Conference competed in the 8th period since Friday.
With 40 seconds left in the 2nd period, Josh Mori and Carlin Dezainde dropped the gloves in the Winterhawks zone following a one-on-one board battle.
Danielson mentioned how the fight lifted the bench. “That definitely got all the boys excited seeing Mori drop them there. Especially giving the crowd energy, which we can feed off too.”
Then, an Ondrej Becher roughing penalty with two seconds left in the frame meant the Winterhawks would start the third period with a power play for 1:58.
Nguyen completed the hat trick with 11 seconds remaining on the power play following a net-front scramble. Jack O’Brien’s wrap around attempt was denied by a splits save by Young before the rebound went right to the tape of Nguyen.
When asked how his first playoff hat trick felt, Nguyen was humble and credited his teammates, saying, “It is fun, obviously. It is good to score goals, and Špunar did a really good job of keeping the puck out of our net. I give a lot of credit to everyone who battled tonight.”
Portland played without forward Josh Davies, and Prince George lost one of its top forwards in B.C. Division Rookie of the Year Terik Parascak, who did not return for the third period.
For Lamb and his team, it is the ‘next-man-up’ mentality. “We have no update on him. We’ve got some guys sitting out that should be playing.”
Game Three was the first appearance for San Jose Sharks fourth-round selection Luca Cagnoni.
Johnston noted the boost it gave his defensive group. “Our big emphasis on our defense is to move the puck quick and make good decisions. Cagnoni is one of the best in the league at that, so it did really help having him in because PG is a strong forechecking team. They get in on you, they’ve got bigger bodies, so having our defense move that puck quick up to the forwards fast. As I said, Cagnoni is a big part to that type of game.”
Špunar’s shutout bid came to an end with a 4:04 to play when former Regina Pats forward Borya Valis snipped a perfect shot past the Czechia netminder for his 7th goal of the postseason.
The Cougars pushed hard to end the game but could not solve Špunar again to put added pressure on the Winterhawks. Lamb elected not to pull Young for the extra attacker.
With an off day on Tuesday, the two teams reset before Game Four on Wednesday.
“It is a super long series,” Heidt said on Monday. “As a group, we are still super positive and have a ton of belief. We have a ton of heart, so I don’t think we are evn close to done. It is good to face a bit of adversity I think, and our group is ready to handle the task.”
Lamb’s expectation for Game Four was simple, “You start on time, and you play the right way. Soon as they got those couple of goals, the fans are going to jump on board; everyone is happy. That is hockey. It is 2-1 games to one for them, good for them. We are going to regroup and come back.”
Nguyen’s perspective was to keep showing more of the same. “We’ve been playing well, and we want to respond. They are a really good team, so we know what is coming, and they know what is coming. Keeping consistency throughout our game.”
