PORTLAND — The Portland Winterhawks are one win away from the Western Hockey League finals.
Four points from Nate Danielson and three from Marcus Nguyen highlighted Portland’s 5-2 win over the Prince George Cougars on Wednesday in Game 4 of their best-of-seven Western Conference Championship series.
Portland leads the series 3-1 and can win it on home ice Thursday in Game 5. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
The Hawks opened the scoring on a power-play goal by Gabe Klassen at 9:20 of the first, then made it 2-0 heading into intermission as Josh Zakreski sent a one-handed pass through the crease to a wide-open Diego Buttazzoni at the back door.
Prince George responded midway through the second with Hudson Thornton’s first of two on the night, but Nguyen returned fire to restore his team’s two-goal lead before the break.
The 19-year-old then posted his second straight multi-goal game with another strike early in the third, capitalizing on some slick passing with Danielson and Jack O’Brien.
Thornton second goal at 12:32 gave the Cougars some life, but Danielson was quick to snuff it out with his fourth goal of the postseason at 14:53, cementing Portland’s third straight win in the series.
Jan Špunar, fresh off of being named WHL Goaltender of the Month for April, turned aside 26 of 28 for the Hawks, while Ty Young faced down 34 of 39 for the Cougars.
Portland, the West No. 2 seed, has not played for the Ed Chenoweth Cup since losing in seven games to the Edmonton Oil Kings in 2014. Top seed Prince George has yet to advance to the WHL final.
The Western Conference champ will face either Sasakatoon or Moose Jaw for the trophy. That series is tied 2-2.
