Finally, a different ending to a familiar movie.
A week after a clunky effort on Halloween Night in the Rose City where Portland won 6-2, the Prince George Cougars exercised some of the old skeletons that live inside the Memorial Coliseum.
Five unanswered goals uplifted the Cougars to a 6-2 road victory over the Portland Winterhawks on Wednesday night.
Another goal on the rush for Kayden Lemire!#NHLDraft | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/rKj1dCzY1q pic.twitter.com/jCv0x0XE8o
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2025
Early on, Jett Lajoie was the beneficiary of a lead pass from Patrick Sopiarz.
The 18-year-old from Winnipeg turned on the afterburners, blowing past a pair of Winterhawk defenders then slipped the puck past goaltender Ondrej Stebetak for a 1-0 edge.
Portland’s quick strike offense punched back four minutes later as Reed Brown drove wide on a flat-footed Corbin Vaughan solving PG netminder Josh Ravensbergen to even the score.
Then on a power-play, some puck wizardry by Jordan Duguay found a wide-open Alex Weiermair via a cross-ice pass who made no mistake on a one-time blast to put the Winterhawks up 2-1.
NHL top prospect blueliner Carson Carels remedied the situation in the dying seconds of period one burying a loose puck on the man-advantage courtesy of a rebound that was spat out by Stebetak.
The powerplay gets this one tied with seconds left in the first!#NHLDraft | @Capitals | @CarlsJrCA https://t.co/jb2urzGwkQ pic.twitter.com/qDFKLcBaO1
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2025
Portland’s undisciplined play reared its ugly head in the second period and once again proved costly.
A loose puck battle behind the Winterhawks net won by Brock Souch found Terik Parascak.
The Washington Capitals first round pick then located Dimitry Yakutsenak who beat a sprawled out Stebetak for a 3-2 lead.
A sloppy giveaway at the Winterhawks blueline was corralled by Kooper Gizowski who’s initial shot ricocheted off Stebetak but found Kayden Lemire who slid it into the yawning cage.
Less than 40 seconds later, Riley Ashe joined the offensive parade as his wrist shot from inside the Portland zone had an odour to it and somehow beat the Stebetak.
Riley Ashe has his third of the year and our third of the period!@CarlsJrCA https://t.co/5shsslFbcd pic.twitter.com/NsFW24AKB9
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2025
The Czechia goaltender was then pulled in favour of Cruz Chase. Stebetak allowed five goals on 19 shots.
Not to be outdone, Ravensbergen made a trio of saves later in the period to preserve the healthy lead, two of which came off the sticks of Duguay and Brown, both were the post-to-post variety.
Portland outshot the Cougars 39-28. PG went 2-for-3 on the man-advantage while the Winterhawks were 1-for-4.
A third period surge by the Winterhawks was stymied by Ravensbergen who made 13 saves in the final 20 minutes. The first-round pick by the San Jose Sharks made 37 stops in the victory.
“I thought Josh (Ravensbergen) was the best player on the ice tonight for both teams,” said Associate Coach Jim Playfair on the 94.3 the Goat post-game show. I didn’t like our first period, we weren’t entering the zone quick enough, then the second period they started stretching on us and we made some adjustments, found a way to get some goals, and then chase their goaltender and then we pushed from there. It was a big road win for us.”
Parascak added an empty netter with less than three minutes remaining as Cruz was pulled for an extra-attacker.
Yakutsenak made SURE Terik got his Goal for Charity tonight 🤑@CarlsJrCA | @Capitals https://t.co/7Qv5HBSqH9 pic.twitter.com/wFDELC29ea
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2025
PG (10-6-0-0) leap-frogged the Kamloops Blazers, Victoria Royals and Penticton Vees to jump into first place in the B.C. Division as well as the second seed in the Western Conference.
The Cougars continue a six-game road trip Friday (7:05pm) against the league-best Everett Silvertips (13-1-1) then wrapping up against the Wenatchee Wild (3-8-1-1) Saturday at 6:05pm.
Walking out with two points and the season series 😼#ForTheNorth . #WHL pic.twitter.com/gqvBy43Rso
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) November 6, 2025
Something going on in the Prince George area you think people should know about?
Send us a news tip by emailing pgnews@vistaradio.ca.
