Nguyen Strikes Twice As Hawks Pick Up A Point
November 3, 2022 – Western Hockey League (WHL) – Portland Winterhawks News Release
Portland, Ore. – Marcus Nguyen scored twice and Gabe Klassen tallied his team-leading 10th goal of the season, but the Winterhawks fell short in the shootout as the Prince George Cougars picked up a 5-4 victory following the breakaway contest.
Portland moves to 8-1-1-1 heading into a three-in-three this weekend.
Prince George opened the scoring and carried a 1-0 lead into the second period thanks to Carter MacAdams’ fourth of the season, but Portland mounted a response early in the middle frame with Nguyen’s first of the night. Driving through the middle lane, Nguyen collected a pass from Josh Zakreski on the wing before quickly lofting a shot past Ty Young to tie the game.
After the Cougars again took the lead on an Ondrej Becher marker five minutes later, Nguyen knotted things up at two heading into the third with a highlight-reel, one-handed deflection into the top corner after Zakreski once more found him with a slick pass from the left wing.
The Winterhawks assumed control of the game early in the third with two quick tallies in the first 10 minutes. Gabe Klassen capped off a beautiful tic-tac-toe tally on the power-play at 9:07 for his 10th goal of the year, followed just 51 seconds later by Luke Schelter hammering home a rebound for a 4-2 Hawks lead. But Prince George again punched back, forcing overtime with a goal from Chase Wheatcroft and another from Becher.
After a scoreless overtime, Klassen and Nguyen each found twine in the shootout for Portland, but were matched by Wheatcroft and Koehn Ziemmer before Noah Boyko netted the winner for the visitors.
The Winterhawks return to the VMC this Friday, Nov. 4 for the first 2022-23 installment of the I-5 Rivalry against the Seattle Thunderbirds on Hawks Fight Cancer night.
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