Hartley’s Sports Shorts; Friday, March 28th

Sports by Hartley Friday, March 28th, 2025

(As of 12:05 a.m. All times listed are PDT)

WHL:

It is playoff time in the WHL.

The Prince George Cougars host the Portland Winterhawks tonight (Friday) at 7:00 and Saturday night at 6:00 in the first two games of their first round series.

The best-of-7 will shift to Portland in the 2-3-2 format, Tuesday, Wednesday and if needed Friday of next week (April 1st, 2nd and 4th).

Games six and seven, if necessary, will be played in Prince George on Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th.

RUN. IT. BACK.

Round One of the 2025 #WHLPlayoffs presented by Nutrien is set to re-ignite the rivalry between 2024 Western Conference Championship combatants, the @PGCougars and @pdxwinterhawks!

📝 | https://t.co/P3hKYnqPm2 pic.twitter.com/VQg7GyONlL

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 25, 2025

The two teams met in last season’s Western Conference Final (won by Portland in six games).

Both Portland and Prince George have about half of their roster back from last year.

The (41-21-4-2) Cougars finished second in the BC Division and 4th in the Western Conference.

The (36-28-3-1) Winterhawks ended up third in the US Division and 5th in the Conference.

Portland scored 10 more goals in the regular season but also allowed 47 more than Prince George.

The Winterhawks won all four regular season meetings against the Cougars, although they have not met in over three months (since Dec. 13th).

P.G. was 24-5-3-2 on home ice this season while Portland was 17-14-2-1 on the road.

Playoff schedule for the Portland-Prince George WHL series:  (All times PDT)

1 Portland @ Prince George Friday March 28 7:00 p.m.
2 Portland @ Prince George Saturday March 29 6:00 p.m.
3 Prince George @ Portland Tuesday April 1 7:00 p.m.
4 Prince George @ Portland Wednesday April 2 7:00 p.m.
5* Prince George @ Portland Friday April 4 7:00 p.m.
6* Portland @ Prince George Sunday April 6 6:00 p.m.
7* Portland @ Prince George Monday April 7 7:00 p.m.
*- If necessary

The WHL Conference standings are here.

NHL: (10 Thursday games with 5 Canadian teams in action)

Dallas  5  Calgary  2
Seattle  6  Edmonton  1
San Jose  6  Toronto  5  (SO)
Philadelphia  6  Montreal  4
Ottawa  4  Detroit  3

The (34-26-12) Vancouver Canucks, with just 10 games left, continue a 6-game road trip tonight (4:00) against the (32-29-9) Blue Jackets in Columbus.

The Canucks will wrap up their trip Sunday (noon) in Winnipeg.

Vancouver is 5 points behind the (39-28-7) St. Louis Blues for the 2nd and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The Blues, who have won eight straight, beat Nashville 3-2 Thursday.

#

Alex Ovechkin did not score in the Washington Capitals 4-2 loss to the Minnesota Wild.

The 39-year-old Ovechkin has 889 career goals, 6 away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894.

The (47-16-9) Capitals have 10 regular season games remaining.

Washington will host Buffalo Sunday (noon).

The NHL schedule and results are here or here.