Mathew Barzal showed it in the world junior championship over the Christmas break playing for Team Canada and on Saturday in Kent, Wash., the slick centre offered the Prince George Cougars a reminder.
He's a world-class hockey player.
The 18-year-old New York Islanders draft pick assisted on all but one his team's goals in a 4-1 victory over the Cougars which gives Seattle a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference quarterfinal series.
Keegan Kolesar scored twice, and Ethan Bear and Scott Eansor also found the net for Seattle. Chase Witala was the lone Cougar goalscorer.
Held off the scoresheet in Friday's 3-2 overtime win over the Cougars, Barzal made up it for his lack of offence in the opener with a dominant effort in Game 2 to put the pressure on the Cougars, with the series switching to Prince George for games Tuesday and Wednesday at CN Centre.
As they did in Game 1, the T-birds outshot the Cougars by a wide margin Saturday and goalie Ty Edmonds was on his game once again, bailing his team out numerous times. But unlike the series opener, in which Jansen Harkins tied it to force overtime with 28 seconds left, the Cougars were unable to stay close enough to get to that stage.
Barzal set up Kolesar's first of the night, feeding him a lead pass in the Cougars' zone for an open shot on Edmonds, 8:45 into the second period. The T-birds appeared to have their second goal of the game 29 seconds after that when Andreas Schumacher beat Edmonds on a breakaway rush, but the goal was called back when Seattle was caught with too many men on the ice.
Five minutes later, while the Cougars were on their third power play of the game, Jansen Harkins threaded a perfect cross-ice pass to Witala standing just off the post. The pass missed Witala's stick but went in off his skate. A video replay confirmed there was no kicking motion involved.
But the T-birds retook the lead 1:14 later when Barzal carried the puck behind the net and, as he made the wraparound, he found the Bear in the slot for an easy tap-in.
Kolesar made it a 3-1 count 5:24 into the third period, cashing in a rebound after Barzal took the puck deep in on Edmonds. The Cougar goalie tried for the pokecheck and ended up flat on his belly, unable to reach up to block Kolesar's shot from close range.
Eansor capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
The Cougars were outshot 44-18, after Seattle outshot them 50-23 on Friday.
The Cats' power play had six opportunities to work with in Game 2 but couldn't score, after cashing in two of their five chances Friday. Their penalty killers remained perfect in the series, thanks to some aggressive forechecking from forwards Jared Bethune, Aaron Boyd, Luke Harrison, and Kody McDonald and unrelenting physical play in the crease from the defencemen. The Cougars killed off six minors issued to them Saturday, after holding the T-birds without a power-play goal in five chances Friday. But all that extra icetime for the PK units took a toll, especially on the Cougars' shutdown line of Kody McDonald, Luke Harrison and Colby McAuley, whose job it was to shadow Barzal and his linemates Kolesar and Nick Holowko.
"We're not happy as a coaching staff we took 11 or 12 (penalties in the series so far)," said Cougars assistant coach Roman Vopat, in the post-game broadcast. "That's 24 extra minutes for McDonald, Harrison, (Jared) Bethune and (Aaron) Boyd. It's going to be a tough series and you could tell at the end of the game our players who were supposed to shut down Barzal were tired.
"If you want to win in the playoffs you have to capitalize on the special teams and just bury it, we have to put more pucks on net . Ty Edmonds faced (94) shots and (Seattle goalie Landon) Bow faced (41) and I don't think that's enough to win a game."
LOOSE PUCKS: With near-sellout crowds expected, tickets are still available for the games in Prince George at the CN Centre box office...The Kamloops Blazers scored two goals 36 seconds apart in the final minute of the game to defeat the Kelowna Rockets 5-4 Saturday in Kelowna. That tied the series with Games 2 and 4 set for Kamloops Tuesday and Wednesday. Due to a conflict with the IIHF world women's hockey championship, Tuesday's game will be played in Kamloops Memorial Arena, which as a capacity 3,400 (2,600 seats, 800 standing room spots). The Blazers haven't played there since May 5, 1992, when they beat the Saskatoon Blades 8-0 in Game 7 of the WHL championship series. Kamloops went on to win the Memorial Cup that year in Seattle.
Saturday game summary
Cougars 1 at Thunderbirds 4
(Seattle leads the best-of-seven WHL Western Conference quarterfinal series 2-0)
First Period
No Scoring.
Penalties -- Harrison PG (hooking) 7:27; McDonald PG (hooking) 11:19; Kolesar Sea (charging) 12:39; Ruopp PG (charging) 17:39.
Second Period
1. Seattle, Kolesar 1 (Barzal), 8:45
2. Prince George, Witala 1 (Harkins, Morrison) 14:29
3. Seattle, Bear 1 (Barzal, Holowko), 15:43.
Penalties -- Harrison PG (boarding) 7:04; Bow Sea (roughing, served by Holowko) 7:04, Sea bench (too many men) 9:14; Olson PG (cross-checking) 11:19; Barzal Sea (tripping) 12:26; Schumacher Sea (charging) 17:36; Witala PG (checking from behind) 17:43; Ottenbreit Sea (cross-checking) 18:01.
Thirds Period
4. Seattle, Kolesar 2 (Barzal) 5:14
5. Seattle, Eansor 1 (Volcan) 19:27 (en)
Penalties -- O'Brien PG (tripping) 2:13; Bethune PG (delay of game) 6:14; Leth Sea (interference) 8:28; Harkins PG (misconduct) 19:27.
Shots on goal by
Prince George6-6-6--18
Seattle 13-16-15--44
Power plays -- PG; 0-6; Sea: 0-6.
Goal -- Prince George, Edmonds (0-1-1-0, 43 shots-40 saves); Seattle, Bow (2-0-0-0, 18 shots-17 saves).
Attendance -- 5,092
Referees -- Kevin Bennett, Jeff Ingram; Linesmen -- Nathan Van Oosten, Michael Bean.
Scratches -- Prince George: D Max Martin (healthy), D. Luka Zorko (healthy), LW Kolby Johnson healthy), LW Jackson Lepard (healthy), RW Josh Curtis (healthy), D Josh Anderson (back injury, out for season), RW Adam Kadlec (healthy); Seattle: D Bryan Allbee (upper body, day-to-day), LW Ryan Gropp (upper body, day-to-day), D Jared Pelechaty (healthy), RW Owen Seidel (upper body, out for season), C Elijah Brown (healthy), RW Luke Ormsby (undetermined injury), RW Luke Osterman (healthy).
