A heartbreaking loss for the Portland Winterhawks in Game 1 of their 1st round playoff series. They blow a 5-2 lead in the 3rd period, fall behind, come back to tie it, and then lose in overtime to the Prince George Cougars, 7-6, on a controversial goal by Terik Parascak exactly 4000 seconds into the game. The goal was scored into a dislodged net, it was originally waved off, but then it was awarded. In the end it was the right call.
In the end, Portland can only blame themselves for giving up 4 straight goals in the first 12:20 of the 3rd period, to turn a comfortable lead into a deficit. They fought to tie it only to lose the series’s first game. The rematch is Saturday.
| 1st 1:21 POR Josh Zakreski (Jordan Duguay) 1-0 | Zakreski picks up a pick in the right corner, takes it to the right dot, and wrists it in, not a great goal for Joshua Ravensbergen. Duguay helped keep the puck alive in the corner for Zakreski to get it. |
| 1st 14:28 POR Carter Sotheran (Diego Buttazzoni) 2-0 | Great individual move by Buttazzoni, taking it from his own blue line along the right boards, all the way to the left and behind the PG net. His wraparound attempt hits the post, but Ravensbergen clears it into the high slot, where Sotheran has a wide open wrister. |
| 1st 16:32 PG Borya Valis (Koehn Ziemmer, Aiden Foster) 2-1 | Valis knocks the puck away from Tyson Jugnauth near the Portland blue line, then after taking a pass from Ziemmer, makes a move from the right corner to the front of the net, sidestepping a check by Carter Sotheran, and then backhands it in. Foster gets a lucky assist as he fell over with the puck at center ice before Valis outdueled Jugnauth. |
| 1st 17:29 POR Josh Zakreski (Max Pšenička, Ryder Thompson) 3-1 | Pšenička, from his own corner, attempts an outlet pass that misses Jordan Duguay but turns into a brilliant bank pass, banking off the boards at the Portland blue line and going all the way down to the Prince George slot, where Zakreski, splitting between an unaware Carson Carels and Corbin Vaughan, runs onto the puck and beats Ravensbergen. |
| 2nd 2:45 POR Alex Weiermair (Kyle Chyzowski) 4-1 | Chyzowski steals the puck from Viliam Kmec at the PG blue line and sends it over to Weirmair, who wrists it in from the high slot on basically a 2 on 1. That ended Ravensbergen’s game. |
| 2nd 6:36 PG Matteo Danis (Leith Hunter, Aiden Foster) 4-2 | Danis from left of the net just in front of the goal line beats Ondrej Štěbeták short side from a bad angle, not a good goal. Hunter wrapped it around the boards behind the net to Danis, and Foster brought the puck in. |
| 2nd 8:01 POR (PP) Diego Buttazzoni (Tyson Jugnauth, Kyle Chyzowski) 5-2 | Buttazzoni from the right dot one-times a Jugnauth pass through Cooper Michaluk’s 5-hole. Chyzowski retrieved a puck and got it back to the point. |
| 3rd 1:03 PG Riley Heidt (Carson Carels) 5-3 | Heidt drags and wrists one in from the inside top of the left circle. Carels bumped it to him from the PG blue line. |
| 3rd 7:09 PG Terik Parascak (Borya Valis, Viliam Kmec) 5-4 | A great pass from behind the net by Valis, slipping it through Štěbeták to Parascak, who beat Reed Brown to the front of the net. Kmec created his own chance from behind the net, which got Portland’s defense all over the place up before Valis got the puck. |
| 3rd 7:50 PG Matteo Danis (Jett Lajoie, Aiden Foster) 5-5 | Cole Slobodian from in front of his own net turns it over to Foster at the left boards. He takes it to the net and sets up Lajoie in the right circle, and he slides it over to the left circle to Danis, who puts it in before Štěbeták can get over, creating a tied game as pandemonium breaks out. |
| 3rd 12:20 PG Bauer Dumanski (Terik Parascak, Borya Valis) 5-6 | Parascak makes a great move to the net past Max Pšenička and Ryder Thompson and puts it wide. He retrieves it in the corner and centers it, it goes off Josh Zakreski up the middle to Dumanski, who scores through traffic from beyond the high slot. Valis won the puck in his own zone and got it up to Parascak. |
| 3rd 16:52 POR Joel Plante (Ryder Thompson, Max Pšenička) 6-6 | At the end of a wild sequence, Plante outbattles Aleksey Chichkin and Vaughan in front of the net and backhands one on goal, Michaluk can’t handle it cleanly and it gets through him and in. Thompson’s point shot bounced around to where Plante eventually got it, and Pšenička passed it to Thompson from the other point. |
| OT 6:40 PG Terik Parascak (Ben Riche, Corbin Vaughan) 6-7 | See Controversies, below. Parascak exchanges passes with Riche down the right wing, and then toedrags as Carter Sotheran slides by, and shoots from below the right dot. Štěbeták had pushed the net off the moorings and was off balance to stop Parascak’s shot, and it got through him, and went in where the net would have been. The officials originally ruled it no goal but reversed themselves to give the Cougars the win, confirmed on video review. Vaughan intercepted a long Jugnauth pass and sent it back the other way to Parascak. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 31:44 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 14:45 |
| Tied | 15:39 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 4:32 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Pregame: A rematch of last season’s conference championship, with Prince George again holding home ice advantage. Terik Parascak returned to the Cougar lineup after being injured the last 5 games.
1st period: Portland was rewarded for a fast start with a 2-0 lead, then quickly answered a PG goal to make it 3-1 after 20 minutes. They controlled play more than a 16-14 shot advantage would indicate.
2nd period: The Winterhawks made it a 3-goal lead, then again quickly answered a Cougars goal to make it 5-2. Prince George was turning into the undisciplined, frustrated team they were during the 4-0 Portland season series.
3rd period: Then Riley Heidt got an early goal and things changed. They started making plays, and hitting, clean hits this time, breaking down Portland’s defense, and grabbed the lead with their 4th straight goal of the period. Portland did well to fight back, got the tying goal from Joel Plante, and were the better team the last 5 minutes.
Overtime: The Cougars were the better team in overtime, winning the shots 6-1, and won it on the strange goal from Parascak.
How it was won: 1) After giving up 4 power plays in the 2nd, the Cougars turned into a disciplined while still physical team, and didn’t give up a power play the rest of the way. Their clean hits rattled the Winterhawks, really got the crowd going, and got them back in the game.
2) Big games from their top players. Especially Parascak and Borya Valis with 3 points each.
3) Cooper Michaluk replaced Josh Ravensbergen in the 2nd period and, although he gave up a couple of bad goals, stabilized the goaltending to where the Cougars won the matchup.
Key stretch/moment: 2 goals in 41 seconds by PG midway through the 3rd to tie it.
Surprising: Joshua Ravensbergen, North America’s top-ranked NHL goalie prospect, getting the hook midway through the 2nd and continuing his struggles against the Winterhawks.
Not surprising: Can’t think of anything.
Controversies: On the winning goal, the net was halfway to the end boards when the puck went “in”. The rule states ”the puck must have been shot (or the player must be in the act of shooting) at the goal prior to the goal post being displaced.” The puck wasn’t close to leaving Terik Parascak’s stick when the net went off, but you could make the case that he’d toedragged and was starting to shoot. It’s a pretty liberal interpretation and one that could cause some troubles in the long run. But it’s reasonable. Plus, Štěbeták knocked the net off without any Cougars pressure, so he’s the one who caused the problem. They originally gave the goal to Borya Valis, who was in front and may have originally been credited with knocking the puck in, which definitely could not have been allowed by the rules. Valis in fact got the first star because they originally thought he had the winner. But they changed it to Parascak, and by their interpretation they probably got it right.
Best team won?: You’d have to say yes.
Injuries/suspensions: None.
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Terik Parascak | PG | 2 goals, 1 assist | We wondered if he’d play after missing 5 games, and he did and then some. |
| Borya Valis | PG | 1 goal, 2 assists | Now has a 3-game playoff point streak dating to last season. |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 2 goals | Dominated the 1st half of the game, then was shut down in the 2nd half, a key factor. 7-game point streak. |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | 12-game point streak as he had a big offensive impact. |
| Bauer Dumanski | PG | 1 goal | A big goal to give PG the lead. |
| Matteo Danis | PG | 2 goals | |
| Joel Plante | POR | 1 goal | Helped a bit by the goalie, but a big tying goal in the 3rd. |
| Riley Heidt | PG | 1 goal | 5-game point streak. Pretty quiet until the goal that started the comeback. |
| Cooper Michaluk | PG | 22 saves-24 shots | Just good enough after coming in. Will it get him the start on Saturday? |
| Viliam Kmec | PG | 1 assist |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson Jugnauth | POR | 1 assist | 7-game point streak. |
| Koehn Ziemmer | PG | 1 assist | 6-game point streak. |
| Kyle Chyzowski | POR | 2 assists | 3-game point streak. |
| Ondrej Štěbeták | POR | 24 saves-30 shots | |
| Joshua Ravensbergen | PG | 15 saves-19 shots | His struggles against the Winterhawks this season continue. They’ll need him to make a deep run in the playoffs, so it’s hard to see them benching him, but he hasn’t played well against Portland all season. |
| Winterhawks | Cougars | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 36-29-3-1 (.551) | 42-21-4-2 (.645) |
| Goals/game | 3.9 | 3.7 |
| Goals allowed/game | 4.0 | 3.3 |
| Team shooting % | .108 | .117 |
| Team save % | .885 | .893 |
| Power play | 24.5% | 22.1% |
| Penalty kill | 74.9% | 79.0% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.0 | 3.3 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Outshooting opponents | 33-34-2 | 35-32-2 |
| After 1 period | 21-30-18 | 29-17-23 |
| After 2 periods | 26-34-9 | 29-24-16 |
| Score, last 10 games | 38-37 (+1) | 40-34 (+6) |
| Score, last 20 games | 71-81 (-10) | 74-66 (+8) |
Portland Winterhawks
It was a tough loss, and you hope that isn’t the series decider, looking back. Will the circumstances of the final goal give them a chip on their shoulder? They can at least take solace that PG won the 1st game last season 5-0, and then lost 4 of the next 5.
Prince George Cougars
They have to figure out whether to go back to Ravensbergen again, or start Michaluk.
Saturday 3/29 at Prince George, 6pm PDT (Game 2)
Tuesday 4/1 vs. Prince George, 7pm PDT (Game 3)
Wednesday 4/2 vs. Prince George, 7pm PDT (Game 4)
Friday 4/4 vs. Prince George, 7pm PDT (Game 5 if necessary)
Sunday 4/6 at Prince George, 6pm PDT (Game 6 if necessary)
Monday 4/7 at Prince George, 7pm PDT (Game 7 if necessary)