Cole Kehler made 48 saves to lead the Portland Winterhawks to a 5-3 victory over the Prince George Cougars before a standing room only crowd of 5,822 at the CN Centre.
The Winterhawks enjoy a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Quarter-Finals with Game Six Monday in Portland.
Should a 7th game be needed, it would be played Wednesday in Prince George.
RECAP: Cats drop a dramatic Game 5 at home, now need a road 'W' in Game 6 Monday in Portland to stay alive.
MORE: https://t.co/fiAtiTA5HE pic.twitter.com/TOMPKnq6V9
— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) April 2, 2017
The Cougars outshot the Winterhawks 51-28, including 18-8 in the third period, but their comeback attempt fell short thanks in part to the brilliant netminding of Kehler.
18-year-old import Joachim Blichfield scored his second goal of the game for Portland early in the third to give the Winterhawks a 3-1 lead.
The Cougars sent the hometown fans into a frenzy when they briefly tied the game at 3-3, thanks to back-to-back goals 3:19 apart from Brogan O’Brien (10:04 mark) and Colby McAuley (13:22).
.@Brogs_97 with the great individual effort to get @PGCougars back within one. It’s 3-2 with 9:56 to go in the 3rd. #PGvsPOR #WHLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/hpHIkSP9QW
— #WHLPlayoffs (@TheWHL) April 2, 2017
17-year-old Ryan Hughes notched the winner past Cats goaltender Ty Edmonds just 59 seconds after McAuley had evened the score.
17-year-old Cody Glass added the insurance marker with just 2:35 left.
Jared Bethune of PG and Portland 16-year-old rookie Brad Ginnell exchanged goals in the first five minutes of the game.
The Winterhawks were 1-for-2 and the Cougars 0-for-2 on the power play.
It was the third straight game in the series that the team that scored first ended up with the loss.
HIGHLIGHTS:
There were two other WHL playoff games on Saturday; Moose Jaw won 3-2 in Swift Current to tie that first round series 3-3, and Lethbridge beat Red Deer 5-3 to cut the Rebels’ lead to 3-2.
RESULTS:
———————————————————————
Game | Visitor | Home | Date
1 | Portland @ Prince George: Friday, March 24 = (POR 4, PG 2)
2 | Portland @ Prince George: Sunday, March 26 = (PG 5, POR 1)
3 | Prince George @ Portland: Wednesday, March 29 = (PG 6, POR 1)
4 | Prince George @ Portland: Thursday, March 30th = (POR 5, PG 4)
5 | Portland @ Prince George: Saturday, April 1st = (POR 5, PG 3)
6 | Prince George @ Portland: Monday, April 3rd at 7PM
*7 | Portland @ Prince George: Wednesday, April 5th at 7PM
*If necessary
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