Different night, same story.
Tyler Brennan propelled the Prince George Cougars to another victory over the Portland Winterhawks Tuesday night at CN Centre, making 34 saves to lift the Cougars to a 3-1 win over the visiting Winterhawks to complete the two-game sweep.
For Brennan, it was his eighth win in his last nine starts as he ran his season win count to 14.
The Cougars got their offence from Jaxsen Wiebe, Carlin Dezainde and Cole Dubinsky.
After shutting out the Winterhawks with a 31-save outing in a 1-0 shootout victory on Monday, Brennan came close to posting back-to-back shutouts but was denied when Luca Cagnoni scored on a wrist shot with 3:06 left in Tuesday’s rematch.
The first period was as tight as they come with both teams registering eight shots apiece, and the game remaining scoreless after 20 minutes.
In the second, the Cougars got an early goal from Wiebe to break the scoreless deadlock. Prince George then killed off a lengthy 5-on-3 disadvantage, and even got rewarded with a penalty shot, courtesy of Ethan Samson. The Cougar captain was unable to score on the attempt, however, the Cougars ultimately killed off the two-man advantage.
Just under 10 minutes after Wiebe’s tally, Dezainde rifled his fourth of the season in behind goalie Dante Gianuzzi to double the PG lead to 2-0 after 40 minutes.
In the third, Dubinsky added to the PG lead, making it 3-0.
Less than a minute after Cagnoni got Portland on the scoreboard, Portland appeared to make it a one goal game off a Jack O’Brien tap-in, but the goal was overturned. The goal went immediately under review, and after a lengthy delay, it resulted no goal, due to a hand pass. Portland rattled off a few chances in the final two minutes, but Brennan and his crew stood call and gave the Cougars another big victory on home ice.
The win improved the Cougars’ record to 26-23-4-0 (sixth in WHL Western Conference), while Portland’s sixth-straight loss dropped the Winterhawks to 36-14-2-3 (third in West).
The Cougars are now just one point behind Everett for fifth place and they trail Tri-City by just three points for fourth.
The Cougars head to Langley for a date with the Vancouver Giants on Friday (7:30 p.m.). That game will be televised on TSN.
On Saturday, Prince George visits the Victoria Royals.
