Cougars Fall 6-3 Tuesday To Portland

By 250 News

The Portland Winterhawks opened the mid-week doubleheader with the Prince George Cougars Tuesday with a 6-3 victory at CN Centre.

The Cougars and Winterhawks were squaring off for the third time this season, which was also the start to a week that will see the Cougars play five games in six nights for the second time in three weeks.  The Winterhawks opened the scoring when Troy Rutkowski snapped a shot from the right side past Ty Rimmer on the glove side to make it 1-0 Portland at 13:01.  Ryan Johansen added a second Winterhawks goal, again scored 4-on-4, with 15 seconds to play in the period to give the Winterhawks a 2-0 lead going to the break.  The shots were even at 12 a piece.

The Cougars fell behind 3-0 when Johansen and Nino Niederreiter raced in on a 2-on-0, leaving no chance for Rimmer to stop Johansen's second of the game at 4:11.  Rimmer came up with big saves to keep the score within three heading to the dressing room.  The Cougars were out-shot 11-10.

The Winterhawks upped their lead to 4-0 when Brendan Leipsic finished off a passing play in close at 5:42.  But the Cougars were able to break through on Mac Carruth shortly after, when Taylor Stefishen fired a shot from the right side that eluded Carruth for Stefishen's 21st goal of the season at 6:02.  Dan Gibb picked up the lone assist.  Svan Bartschi restored the four goal lead on the power play at 12:19, but Charles Inglis then scored two goals 1:18 apart at 17:25 and 18:43, moving him up to 25 goals on the year.  Sena Acolatse and Troy Bourke picked up the assists on the first Inglis goal, with Acolatse improving to a six game point streak and Bourke to a four game run.  Stefishen and Josh Smith picked up helpers on the third Cougars goal that made it 5-3 Portland.  But with the net empty in the Cougars end, Craig Cunningham scored into the open goal for a 6-3 Portland lead and eventual win.  The Cougars were out-shot by the Winterhawks 16-13 in the third and 39-35 in the game.  The Winterhawks went 1-for-7 on the power play while the Cougars were 0-for-6, including a 5-on-3 man advantage in the first.

The Cougars, now with a record of 28-29-2-1, will look for a split against the 40-16-0-3 Winterhawks Wednesday night at CN Centre, starting at 7:00pm.  Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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