Hartley’s Sports Shorts; Monday, April 22nd

Sports by Hartley Monday, April 22nd as of 12:05 a.m.

(All times listed are PDT)

WHL:

The Prince George Cougars will compete in the WHL Western Conference Final for the first time in 17 years and fourth time overall.

The Cougars advanced after knocking out the Kelowna Rockets in five games in their second round series, winning Game five on Friday 6-3 before 6,014 fans at CN Centre.

Prince George will take on the Portland Winterhawks in a 2-3-2 format.

The Cougars host the first two games on Friday and Saturday.

Both games against the Winterhawks were sold out in less than six hours after going on sale.

A few more tickets may be released later in the week.

Cougars round 3 tickets nearly sold out 1 hour after releasehttps://t.co/UPsvzOCdjL | #CityOfPG #PrinceGeorge

— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 20, 2024

The Cougars are 8-1 and the Winterhawks are 8-0 in the playoffs.

The two teams split their four regular season meetings, each winning once at home and once on the road.

Prince George is riding a 5-game home playoff win streak and an overall 9-game home win streak.

The series shifts to Portland for games 3, 4 and if needed 5 on Monday, Wednesday and Thursday of next week.

Only one can be the Best in the West.

The @PGCougars and @pdxwinterhawks will battle it out at the Western Conference Championships starting Friday, April 26.

— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 20, 2024

SERIES SCHEDULE

The WHL standings are here.

The PG Cougars’ playoff results are here.

The PG Cougars’ regular-season results are here.

NHL: (1st games in the best-of-7 first round series)

Vancouver  4  Nashville  2

The Canucks erased a 2-1 deficit with three unanswered goals in the 3rd, two of them 12 seconds apart midway thru the period, and the last one into an empty net.

Dakota Joshua scored twice and added an assist for the Canucks, who host Game 2 Tuesday night at 7:00.

The game summary is here.

Winnipeg  7  Colorado  6
New York Rangers  4  Washington  1
Florida  3  Tampa Bay  2

There are four Stanley Cup playoff games tonight (Monday): Toronto at Boston (4:00), New York Islanders at Carolina (4:30), Vegas at Dallas (6:30) and LA at Edmonton (7:00).

The Bruins lead the Leafs 1-0 and the Hurricanes are up on the Islanders 1-0.

The other two series are about to begin.

The NHL playoff schedule and results are here.

The Vancouver Canucks playoff schedule and results are here.

The NHL playoff scoring leaders are here.

The NHL regular season standings are here.

MLB:

San Diego Padres  6  Toronto Blue Jays  3

The (12-10) Blue Jays continue a 9-game road trip tonight (Monday 4:40) against the (13-9) Kansas City Royals.

The Blue Jays schedule is here.

The MLB schedule is here.

The MLB standings are here.

Hart Attack column:

Attention #WHL fans. The playoff #attendance numbers are in and the @PGCougars lead the Western Conference and are 2nd out of 16 playoff teams behind @BladesHockey. A look at how many fans have been in the stands in this week’s Hart Attack #column.#hockey https://t.co/JvRB7lOf91

— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) April 19, 2024

Cat Scan podcast:

Husband & wife Darnell Toth & Jessica Speziale have two different key jobs with the @PGCougars. What goes on behind the scenes with the #WHL team in the Cat Scan #podcast. Topics include: game-day experience, communication with fans, pre-game show, & atmosphere at CN Centre. https://t.co/owWTdcNJhH

— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) April 15, 2024

NBA: 

There are 3 NBA playoff games tonight (Monday): Orlando at Cleveland (4:00), Philadelphia at New York (4:30) and LA Lakers at Denver (7:00).

The Cavs, Knicks and Nuggets lead their best-of-seven first-round series 1-0.

The NBA schedule and results are here.