The Portland Winterhawks are not kind to teams once they smell blood.
They scratched the skin of the Prince George Cougars with a two-goal lead in the first period but it wasn't until 16-year-old rookie Brandon De Jong joined the rush and cashed in a gift pass from Nic Petan that the Winterhawks' feeding frenzy began.
Three more goals in a span of 3:16 to start the third period took the stuffing out of the Cats and they were was no way to avoid an 8-2 loss Saturday to the surging Winterhawks (25-19-0-3), who have won six of their last eight games to climb into second place in the ultra-competitive WHL U.S. Division.
"We kind of came out flat and they scored on the chances they got and we had a few power plays we didn't score on and that kind of deflated us there," said Cougars defenceman Josh Connolly, who assisted on Jansen Harkins' power-play goal late in the game.
"We had a few bad lapses and they put them in the net. Petan and [Oliver] Bjorkstrand and those guys, you give them a chance and they'll put it in the back of the net, and they did that."
Bjorkstrand had a big night, with two goals and two assists to raise his point total to 54 in 34 games. The Columbus Blue Jackets' third rounder in 2013 showed his brilliance on the opening goal of the game 10 minutes in. Bjorkstrand stripped the puck from Zach Pochiro at centre and moved the puck quickly up to Paul Bittner to create a 2-on-1 chance the 19-year-old Dane finished by snapping a high shot to Ty Edmonds' stick side.
Late in the period, Miles Koules, who fired the tying goal late in Portland's 4-3 shootout win over the Cougars at CN Centre on Friday, took advantage of another neutral-zone turnover which led to an odd-man rush he finished with a shot that found the net past a partially-screened Edmonds.
"In the first period we got off to doing the right things and got rewarded and in the second period we got a little sloppy and got ahead of ourselves," said Winterhawks head coach Jamie Kompon.
"In the third period, just give us 20 minutes and we played the way we're capable of playing."
Down 2-0 in the second period, the Cougars kept Portland goalie Adin Hill busy with 15 shots and at least eight good chances but were unable to beat him. Hill, who was injured for the first month of the season, has seized the role as the Portland starter, playing well enough to become the league-leader in save percentage (.929), which convinced 'Hawks management to trade fellow 18-year-old goalie Brendan Burke to Calgary at the trade deadline. Hill was significantly better at controlling rebounds and playing the angles right than he was in Friday's game and Cougars' offence suffered accordingly.
The Winterhawks drank their fill with five goals in the final frame, scoring three times in a 2:44 span to start the period. Bjorkstrand started it 38 seconds on another Petan setup and Skylar McKenzie blasted in a low shot from the slot, which prompted Cougars coach Mark Holick to replace Edmonds with Patrick Gora. On the first shot Gora faced, defenceman Keoni Texeira beat him with a high shot just inside the post. Layne Viveiros and Blake Heinrich also scored. Petan finished with three assists and formed a lethal tandem with linemate Bjorkstrand.
"Coming back from world juniors it took a game or so but we're finding each other and communicating well," said Petan, "It takes time to develop chemistry like that but just going into every game we're very confident in ourselves."
January blues have plagued the struggling Cougars (20-24-1-1), who have lost seven of eight in the new year. The good news for the Cougars is the fourth-place Vancouver Giants lost 1-0 to the Kamloops Blazers Saturday to remain two points behind the Cats. The Giants have two games in hand.
"I really believe the Cougars' record isn't indicative of the way they play," said Kompon. "They're a strong forecheck team. They come at you, they work hard and they weren't quitting the in the third. I was proud that our guys stuck with it, but they didn't go away either."
The Cougars, who beat Portland 6-3 on Sept. 20, played well enough to beat the 'Hawks Friday but had to settle for a single point in the shootout loss. However, it became obvious in the rematch they have a long way to go to match the skill of the four-time defending Western Conference champions.
"When you go down two goals to a team like that it's hard to come back," said Harkins.
"We battled pretty hard last night and came up a little effort but I liked our effort [Saturday]. We weren't bad throughout the whole game, we had spurts where we were playing pretty well but we weren't consistent enough you give them a couple of turnovers and some chances and they're going to capitalize."
Shots were 40-33 in the Cougars' favour.
LOOSE PUCKS: Harkins leaves today for St. Catharines, Ont., where he's been picked to play for Team Orr in the BMO CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game on Thursday. The game will be broadcast live on TSN. Harkins, who has played all 46 games for the Cougars this season, will miss home games Tuesday and Wednesday against the U.S. Division-leading Everett Silvertips. Harkins has been picked as an assistant captain for Team Orr. Connor McDavid of the Erie Otters is the Team Orr captain... The Cougars have added another 20-year-old to their roster. Left winger Aaron Macklin celebrated his 20th birthday Saturday.... Cougars rookie forward Colby McAuley scored a one-punch knockdown with a right hand to the chin of Winterhawks centre Dominic Turgeon during a second-period fight.
