Taylor Gauthier steals show with shutout performance against Cougars

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A holding call to Viliam Kmec put the Winterhawks on the powerplay at 11:42 of the first period, but the Cougars fought that off and quickly kept the momentum in their court, while adding physicality to their play.

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With 4:05 remaining in the period, Prince George found themselves with their first opportunity with the man-advantage following a holding call to Josh Zakreski. The Winterhawks tightened up their defence, putting bodies in lanes and keeping the Cougars from getting many shots in through to Gauthier.

The opening period closed out with Connor Bowie delivering a hit that sent a Winterhawks’ player into the corner boards as the two teams entered intermission kept scoreless and tied on shots 12-12.

In the second period, the Winterhawks regrouped from the opening period and got their offense rolling, planting one into the back of the net within the first few minutes to go up 1-0.

Gabe Klassen scored his second of the playoffs with James Stefan and Kurtis Smythe getting the helpers on the play.

Nearing the midway mark of the period, the penalty woes came back to hurt the Cougars as Riley Heidt was handed a game misconduct following a tussle with Portland’s Ryan McCleary, who was handed a two-minute instigator penalty though and a game misconduct, dropped the gloves with Heidt. The altercation stemmed from a knee on knee hit from Heidt on a Portland player.

Under seven minutes to go in the middle frame, a shot beat Brennan far corner but ricocheted off the post and back out to the blade of Klassen who tucked the puck into the net as Brennan struggled to track the rebound.

A two-goal period put Portland ahead while Gauthier kept the Cougars off the scoresheet through 40 minutes, and creating a gap in the shots department as they outshot PG 16-6 in the middle frame.

In the final 20 minutes of regulation, Prince George couldn’t muster up any scoring plays as the Winterhawks held on to their lead and took a 3-0 series lead.

Game 4 will be played at the CN Centre on Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.