The Prince George Cougars are down to their last life in the WHL playoffs.
They need a miracle to save their season and stave off the grim reaper after getting spanked 5-0 Tuesday at CN Centre by the visiting Seattle Thunderbirds, who outskated, outmuscled and outhustled their opponents to take a 3-0 lead in the Western Conference quarterfinal.
The Cougars' offence continued to sputter against one of the league's hottest teams and Seattle goalie Landon Bow was rarely tested severely, blocking 27 shots to earn his first playoff shutout while wearing a T-birds jersey.
The Cougars gave their home crowd of 3,491 fans very little to cheer about. They started all three periods with giveaways which led to early goals which totally killed any chance of the home team gaining any momentum.
Having lost both games in Seattle to start the series, the Cougars showed their nervous jitters from the opening puck drop and quickly found themselves trailing 2-0.
It started when Matt Barzal fanned on his shot attempt and the puck trickled over to Cougar defenceman Tate Olson, who failed to clear the slot. Nick Holowko took possession on the turnover and found the net behind Ty Edmonds with 3:07 gone.
The T-birds continued to use their speed to get to loose pucks first and Holowko outraced Luke Harrison to keep the Seattle on the attack in the offensive zone. Keegan Kolesar took the puck on the left wing boards and skated unimpeded into the slot and ripped a wrister in over Edmonds' blocker - the third of the playoffs for Kolesar.
The Cougars penalty-killers were a perfect 11-for-11 in the first two games combined and successfully killed off held the T-birds' power play without a shot in their first chance Tuesday, but the odds eventually caught up with the Cougars. They got caught with too many men on the ice, which led to the third Seattle goal.
Edmonds kicked out Jerret Smith's hard low shot but Alexander True snagged the rebound to the right of the crease and buried it into the net with 3:21 gone in the second period. Three goals on 10 shots was enough to convince Cougars coach Mark Holick to switch his goalies and Nick McBride came in to replace Edmonds with the Cats already trapped in a deep hole.
The situation worsened for the Cougars when they lost their captain and top defenceman Sam Ruopp 10 minutes into the second when Kolesar checked him headfirst into the boards from behind.
A groggy Ruopp went to the dressing room and did not return, while Kolesar was sent off for two minutes, but could be subject to supplementary discipline. Both Ruopp and Kolesar are Columbus Blue Jackets draft picks.
While they pretty much matched the T-birds in shots, the Cougars were held without a bona fide scoring chance in the middle stanza and their frustration was clearly evident by the end of the period. Chase Witala, a 40-goal man in the regular season, appeared to be the most dangerous Cougar forward but like the rest of his team, he rarely was allowed to get into scoring range by the Seattle defence. Witala was goaded into a slashing penalty late in the period but T-birds and their third-ranked power play were held in check without any collateral damage.
McBride showed he was ready as the reliever, making a standup save to deny Scott Eansor on a breakaway and Kolesar on a backhander when the Cougars got caught on an odd-man rush.
Seattle put the game out of reach in the third period, both goals coming from Cavin Leth. The 19-year-old centre cashed in on another Cougar turnover in the corner while at even strength 1:49 into the period. Then Leth scored his third of the playoffs while shorthanded five minutes later, diving to reach a loose puck in the crease.
The Cougars have now gone more than five periods in the series without scoring. They lost Game 1, 3-2 in overtime, and suffered 4-1 loss in Game 2.
The T-birds ended the regular season wining 13 of their last 14 games and now are a perfect so far in three playoff games. They have a chance to wrap up the best-of-seven series in Game 4 tonight at CN Centre (7 p.m. start).
If Game 5 is needed, it will be played Friday in Kent, Wash.
LOOSE PUCKS:
The Kelowna Rockets rebounded from their late-game collapse in Game 2 and defeated the Kamloops Blazers 1-0 Tuesday in Kamloops to take a 2-1 lead in their opening-round series. In Spokane, the Chiefs beat the Victoria Royals 5-2 for their first series win. They trail the Royals two games to one.
Game 3 Summary
WHL Western Conference quarterfinal
Seattle Thunderbirds vs. Prince George Cougars
(T-birds lead best-of-seven series 3-0)
Thunderbirds 5 at Cougars 0
First Period
1. Seattle, Holowko 1 (Barzal, Kolesar) 3:07
2. Seattle Kolesar 3 (Holowko) 5:27
Penalties --- Johnson PG (charging) 13:16, Ottenbreit Sea (holding) 18:11.
Second Period
3. Seattle, True 2 (Bear, Smith) 3:31 (pp)
Penalties - PG bench (too many men, served by Johnson) 1:54, Kolesar Sea (checking from behind) 10:12, Leth Sea (roughing), Witala PG (roughing) 12:35, Witala PG (slashing) 16:57.
Third Period
4. Seattle, Leth 2(Schumacher) 1:49
5. Seattle, Leth 3 (Eansor) 6:29 (sh)
Penalties - Schumacher Sea (goaltender interference) 4:50, Barzal Sea (slashing), Schuldhaus Sea (roughing), Gabrielle PG (fighting, misconduct), Witala PG (roughing) 7:14, Hauf Sea (holding) 18:02.
Shots on goal by
Seattle 8 12 14 - 34
Prince George8 10 9 - 27
Goal - Seattle, Bow (W, 3-0, 27 shots-27 saves); Prince George, Edmonds (L, 0-3, 10 shots-7 saves) and, at 3:31 of second, McBride (24 shots-22 saves).
Power plays - Sea: 1-3; PG:0-4.
Referees - Mike Campbell, Regan Vetter; Linesmen - Chris Carlson, Ron Dietterle.
Attendance - 3,491.
Scratches - Seattle: Jared Pelechaty (healthy), D Bryan Allbee (healthy), RW Owen Seidel (shoulder, out for season), LW Ryan Gropp (lower body, day-to-day), C Elijah Brown (healthy), RW Luke Ormsby (healthy), LW Luke Osterman (healthy); Prince George; RW Josh Curtis (healthy), C Justin Almeida (healthy), D Luka Zorko (healthy), D Max Martin (healthy), D. Josh Anderson (back, out for season); RW Adam Kadlec (healthy).
