Wednesday night in Portland was a goaltending duel between the Prince George Cougars and the Portland Winterhawks. Mac Carruth stopped all 23 shots he faced for Portland, while Mac Engel turned aside 46 shots for the Cougars in a hard-luck 3-0 loss to the Winterhawks.

After a scoreless first period, the Portland Winterhawks really turned it on in the second, outshooting the Cougars 24-5. But the Cougars kept the game scoreless for a large majority of the period thanks to the stellar play of Mac Engel.

Engel made a number of high-intensity saves, including several from point-blank range off of Ty Rattie.

Late in the second, the Cougars went down five-on-three and the Portland Winterhawks finally were able to capitalize. Troy Rutkowski got the puck in the high slot area, and was able to beat Mac Engel for his 12^th of the season.

Portland would add to their lead early in the third. Off a neutral zone turnover, the Winterhawks entered the Cougars zone with seed. Mac Engel stopped the initial chance from Nicolas Petan, but Brendan Leipsic was able to lift a rebound just over the stick of Engel for his 26^th of the season giving the Winterhawks a 2-0 lead.

The Cougars responded with a flurry of shots on Mac Carruth, but the 20-year-old netminder kept the door shut, and was able to eventually hold on for his fourth shutout of the season.

Portland’s Taylor Leier would clinch the game for Portland with a shorthanded empty-netter at 18:31 of the final frame.

Portland finished one-for-five on the power play while the Cougars were zero-for-five on their man advantage chances. Portland ended up outshooting the Cougars 49-23.

Thanks to losses from both Vancouver and Seattle, the Prince George Cougars are still seven points up on the Giants, and just six back of the seventh placed Seattle Thunderbirds heading into the weekend.

Next up for the Cougars, their first home meeting of the season with the Kamloops Blazers. The first of back-to-back games goes Friday from the CN Centre at 7:00.