Prince George handles Spokane 4-2 to take 3-0 series lead
For all the production the Spokane Chiefs got this season from their top line, the Prince George Cougars were more than able to match it in back-to-back victories to open their best-of-seven Western Hockey League playoff series.
As the first-round series shifted to Spokane on Tuesday, the Cougars unleashed even more scorers.
Zac Funk – who scored 67 goals to lead the Western Conference this season – potted his first two playoff goals and 20-year-old Prince George captain Hudson Thornton scored his first of the postseason to lead the top-seeded Cougars to a 4-2 victory at Spokane Arena and a 3-0 lead in the series.
The eighth-seeded Chiefs need to win at home Wednesday night to force a Game 5, which would also be in Spokane.
“You can have as much energy as you want, but if you’re bobbling pucks and turning them over, it’s just not going to work out,” Chiefs coach Ryan Smith said. “We need energy. We need intensity. You have to play like your season is on the line, and that’s literally what’s going to happen (Wednesday).”
Spokane had the game’s first two power plays but failed to score on either, the continuation of a troubling trend for the Chiefs, who through three games are 1-for-13 with the man advantage.
Smith said he saw on the power play the same issues he saw when the Chiefs played five-on-five: indecision.
Meanwhile, the Cougars were the opposite, scoring on 2 of 3 power plays. They now have six power play goals in the series after leading the Western Conference during the regular season at 30.1%.
Spokane took an early 1-0 lead when Hayden Paupanekis swatted a puck out of midair and into the net for his second of the series, but 5 minutes later Funk tied it when he deflected Thornton’s shot from the blue line.
Borya Valis broke the tie in the second period with his second postseason goal, and Thornton scored on the power play to make it 3-1.
Funk’s second goal came with 14:01 left in the third period. Ty Cheveldayoff answered 30 seconds later when Owen Martin found him wide open in front of the net, but that was all the closer the Chiefs got.
“They have some good players over there, and I think we’ve got to tighten up defensively,” Cheveldayoff said. “We’ve got to be so sharp in everything we do. There’s no room for error.”
Berkly Catton, who scored the third-most goals in the WHL (54) during the regular season, went without a goal for the third straight postseason game. Fellow first-liners Conner Roulette (108 regular-season points) and Shea Van Olm (64) were also held scoreless, and in the series that trio has a combined five points.
“That top group is just struggling,” Smith said. “They’re trying to make plays at half speed. They’re not playing straightforward, they’re playing east-west, and (Prince George is) just checking them into the ground. They’re our best players, and they have been all year. They’re just not doing it right now.”
The Cougars are one win away from advancing to the second round of the playoffs for the second year in a row. They have never won a WHL championship.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, are looking for their first playoff victory since 2019.
“There’s so much hockey left to play. If anybody can do it we can,” Cheveldayoff said. “I know we’ve got the guys in the room and the character to do it, and to give up now, it’s not an option. We need to keep going.”