Nolan Volcan ended the Prince George Cougars' season early in overtime.
Just 34 seconds into the extra period, the Seattle Thunderbirds left winger jumped all over a rebound of a Jerret Smith point shot and buried it past Ty Edmonds to give the T-birds a 4-3 victory and a four-game sweep of the best-of-seven series Wednesday at CN Centre.
It was the second goal of the game for Volcan, whose T-birds now move on to the second round of the WHL playoffs.
But for a while there, the Cougars had their crowd of 3,019 convinced the series was heading back to Seattle for a fifth game. The Cougars battled back from a 2-0 deficit with a gutsy performance which nearly was good enough to win.
Like they did in the previous two games of the series, the T-birds opened the scoring. Scott Eansor got a step ahead of Cats defenceman Tate Olson while carrying the puck and flicked a backhand pass to Barzal, who jumped into the rush. Barzal's shot hit Olson, who was down on his knees with his back to the play and Eansor shovelled in the rebound just 4:39 into the game. The net got knocked off its mooring but the video replay was inconclusive as to whether the puck went in before the net was dislodged.
Seattle added to its lead three minutes later. A turnover at the far blueline by Olson sent left winger Volcan on his way and his long shot snuck under the glove of Edmonds.
The Cougars finally gave their fans something to cheer about late in the first period. Brad Morrison jammed the net and got taken down in the crease by Ethan Bear on a delayed penalty as Jansen Harkins fired a low shot on goalie Landon Bow. The rebound came out the opposite side to Seattle defenceman Turner Ottenbreit, who tried to clear it away before Harkins got to it but inadvertently chipped it high into his own net.
That goal seemed to spark the Cougars, who failed to click on a late-period power play but had some significant offensive zone time. But it was the T-birds who had the edge in the first half of the second period. Led by Barzal and Scott Eansor, who seemed to own the puck, they buzzed the net and in a one-minute flurry forced Edmonds to make five quality saves.
Olson redeemed himself for his earlier gaffes when he came up with a pair of assists which put the Cats in a position to force overtime. First, Olson joined Chase Witala on an odd-man rush and worked a give-and-go play to perfection when Witala snapped a high shot past Bow for his second of the playoffs to tie the game 2-2.
Then, with the teams playing 4-on-4 hockey, Olson went hard into the corner to hold the puck in behind the goal line, allowing Brogan O'Brien to feed a pinpoint behind-the-net pass to Jared Bethune, standing in front, who wristed in his first career WHL goal for a 3-2 Cougars' lead.
Facing their first real adversity of the series, the T-birds lacked the jump they showed early in the game. Their passes missed the target, they had trouble getting pucks deep, and that had a lot to do with the Cougars' structure on defence.
But Seattle found a way to tie it, 9:20 into the third period. With O'Brien off for tripping, Ethan Bear took a cross-ice feed and picked the high corner on Edmonds. The Cats' goalie then came up with two of his best saves of the night. First he kicked out his leg to deny Bear's wicked shot, then used his stick to snag the rebound volley from Andreas Schumacher with eight minutes left.
Both teams were without key veterans as direct fallout from what transpired in Game 3, a 5-0 Seattle win. Sam Ruopp got nailed headfirst into the boards from behind by T-birds winger Keegan Kolesar and left with a concussion and neck injury in the second period. Kolesar, who was assessed only a minor penalty and should have tossed from the game for injuring Ruopp. He was suspended indefinitely by the league on Wednesday. The Cougars also were without 40-goal scorer Jesse Gabrielle, who went after Barzal in the third period Tuesday and tried, unsuccessfully, to get him to fight. Gabrielle served a one-game suspension Wednesday.
That opened the door for four rookies. Max Martin and Luka Zorko made their series debuts on the Cougars' blueline and Josh Curtis took his first shifts at right wing for the Cats, while Prince George native Bryan Allbee played a regular shift on defence for the T-birds.
Game Summary
Thunderbirds 4, Cougars 3 OT1
Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Prince George Cougars
(T-birds win best-of-seven series 4-0)
Game 4 Wednesday summary
First Period
1. Seattle, Eansor 2 (Barzal, Holowko) 4:30
2. Seattle, Volcan 1, 7:39
3. Prince George, Harkins 2 (Morrison, Witala) 14:04
Penalties - Dosanjh PG (slashing) 4;39, Tyszka Sea (hooking) 15:25.
Second Period
4. Prince George, Witala 2 (Olson) 11:07
5. Prince George, Bethune 1 (O'Brien, Olson) 13:41
Penalties - Leth Sea (interference) 7:48, Holowko Sea (roughing), Morrison PG (roughing) 10:21, Ottenbreit Sea (roughing) 12:06.
Third Period
6. Seattle, Bear 2 (Barzal, Neuls) 9:20 (pp)
Penalties - O'Brien PG (tripping) 8:41.
Overtime
7. Sesttle, Volcan 2 (Barzal, Neuls) 0:34
Penaties - None.
Shots on goal by
Seattle 7 9 14 3 --39
Prince George 13 10 7 0 --24
Goal - Seattle, Bow (W,4-0, 39 shots- 36saves); Prince George, Edmonds (L,0-4, 24 shots-20 saves.
Power plays - Sea: 1-2; PG: 1-3.
Referees - Ryan Benbow, Regan Vetter; Linesmen - Chris Carlson, Ron Dietterle.
Attendance - 3,010.
Scratches - Seattle: Jared Pelechaty (healthy), RW Owen Seidel (shoulder, out for season), LW Ryan Gropp (lower body, day-to-day), C Elijah Brown (healthy), RW Luke Ormsby (healthy), RW Keegan Kolesar (suspended indefinitely); Prince George: D Sam Ruopp (concussion), LW Jesse Gabrielle (served one-game suspension), D Joel Lakusta (healthy), LW Kolby Johnson (healthy), LW Jackson Lepard (healthy), D. Josh Anderson (back, out for season); RW Adam Kadlec (healthy).
