Tuesday night in Portland, the Prince George Cougars gave the league leaders a real run for their money, but ultimately the Winterhawks prevailed with a 6-4 victory. The Winterhawks scored three unanswered goals in the second period to erase a 2-1 deficit. Tyler Wotherspoon had two goals and two assists for Portland while Jordan Tkatch countered with a goal and an assist for Prince George.

Early in the first, the Prince George Cougars drew first blood when Jordan Tkatch skated the puck into the Portland zone down the right wing and fired a shot past Brendan Burke for his third of the season. Tkatch’s goal came unassisted just 2:11 into the first period.

The teams traded chances for the next 10 minutes, and at 13:13 the Winterhawks would tie the score when Tyler Wotherspoon rifled home a shot from the left point that when off the post and in past Brett Zarowny for his fourth of the season.

Even after Portland tied it, the Cougars kept the pedal down and were nearly rewarded when Ryan Hanes deflected home a Colin Jacobs point shot past Brendan Burke. Hanes’ goal was waved off due to a high-stick, but moments later the Cougars capitalized for good when Carson Bolduc took a pass from Jordan Tkatch off a faceoff, and roofed one past Burke for his third of the season.

The Cougars were able to kill off a late Portland power play in the first, and skated into the first intermission with a 2-1 advantage, outshooting Portland 12-11.

At 4:11 of the second period, Portland tied it when they raced in on a four-on-two. Brendan Leipsic fed Troy Rutkowski in the high slot who then made a nifty move from the backhand to the forehand to beat Brett Zarowny for his 10^th of the season.

Dominic Turgeon would give Portland the lead at 12:20 after he knocked home a Taylor Peters rebound for his third of the season. Tyler Wotherspoon would then add some insurance in the final minute of the second to make it 4-2 for the home squad after 40 minutes. Portland outshot the Cougars 14-9 in the second.

Even though they were down by two, the Cougars came out buzzing in the third period, and had some strong puck position in the offensive zone. Brendan Burke held his own, making some early stops to keep Portland’s lead at two.

The eventual game-winner would be scored at 9:39 of the third when Oliver Bjorkstrand placed a perfect pass onto the stick of Paul Bittner, who was in the midst of splitting through the Cougars defense. Bittner skated in alone on Brett Zarowny and beat him to the glove side for his eighth of the season.

Dean Clark’s team did not fold though, and were rewarded for their persistence when Zach Pochiro pounced on a loose puck in the slot, and fired a shot past the Portland netminder for his fifth of the season which made the score 5-3.

Troy Rutkowski and Troy Bourke would swap goals in the final two minutes to round out the game’s scoring. Rutkowski’s goal was an empty-netter while Bourke was able to beat Brendan Burke with a wrap-around try.

The final shots on goal were 38-37 for Portland with Brendan Burke stopping 33 pucks for his 13^th victory of the season. Brett Zarowny started in his first game since December 28^th for the Cougars, and stopped 32 of the 38 shots he faced. Zarowny made several important and highlight reel saves to keep his team in the game.

Neither team was able to score on the power play, with the Cougars going zero-for-two, while the Winterhawks were zero-for-one.

The Cougars (12-23-1-4) will go head-to-head with Portland (34-5-1-0) again on Wednesday night from the Memorial Coliseum.