Portland Winterhawks’ Ty Rattie snipes short-handed OT winner to top Saturday’s 3 Stars

No. 1 star: Ty Rattie, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

There's a bonus for St. Louis Blues fans: one of their brightest stars was nails in a come-from-behind overtime win on the same night that their beloveds advanced in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Rattie, finally free of any ill effects from a questionable hit from Kamloops' JC Lipon earlier in the playoffs, scored a short-handed hat trick goal 7:58 into extra time to give Portland a 5-4 road win over the Tri-City Americans and a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference final. The Rat Trick, as he's come to be known, also tied the game with 1:53 left in the third period after defenceman Derrick Pouliot (four primary assists) took a well-placed shot that produced a fat rebound.

As was the case in their Game 1 overtime win, the Winterhawks faced an Americans power play in overtime. Tri-City was 5-for-10 in the series on the PP and seemed poised to strike. But Rattie poked the puck by the Ams' Justin Feser and broke away 2-on-1 with Sven Bärtschi. He then toe-dragged Patrick Holland, who was in the unenviable position of being a forward defending a rush, and snapped in the winner.

"Our penalty kill hasn't been killing that well, so we might as well try to score on it," Winterhawks assistant coach Travis Green said in a postgame radio show on winterhawks.com.

The hat trick, which was Rattie's third in these playoffs, gave him a playoff-high 16 goals and 27 points. He clearly seems to be back at full gallop after being banged-up against Kamloops. Coincidentally, his injury coincided with the Winterhawks squandering a 3-0 lead in the series.

"I think the neck was a little bit of a factor, but that's a playoff hockey," Rattie said in a radio interview. "I love it, there was no way I was going to miss a game.

"Personally, that feels like the biggest. Taking a 2-0 lead over Tri-City coming back home is huge."

No. 2 star: Derrick Pouliot, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

The potential NHL first-round pick had the primary assist on all four Winterhawks regulation-time goals to prime Portland for Rattie's finisher. The Winterhawks thrice trailed by two goals, but the 18-year-old Pouliot kept resurrecting them by setting up his forwards. He set up Rattie's first of the night on a first-period power play, then found Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Brad Ross in the second for his 10th of the post-season to cut Tri-City's lead to 3-2.

The Americans, one of the best defensive teams in the Dub, took a two-goal lead with 15 minutes remaining. But rookie Joey Baker scored with 10:05 left before Rattie levelled with fewer than two minutes to go, with Pouliot also setting up those markers.

"The kid is unreal," Rattie said. "I think he's got a chance to play in The Show next year. He's that good."

No. 3 star: Peter Trainor, Rimouski Océanic (QMJHL)

The 17-year-old rookie hasn't had as much attention outside of QMJHL circles for his brilliant post-season, but perhaps he should. Trainor got his ninth goal of the post-season, snapping in a quick shot off an Alexandre Mallet faceoff win, for Rimouski's first goal in their 5-4 Game 2 win at Halifax that gave them a 2-0 series lead with the next three games of the QMJHL semifinal in their own barn.

Trainor's goal set a pattern for the evening. The Mooseheads, playing in front of a sold-out crowd of 10,595, would forge ahead, but Rimouski fought back to tie the game four times. The Océanic never led until Jérôme Gauthier-Leduc put a slapshot in off the goalpost with 56 seconds left.

Trainor has had a busy week. The Fredericton, N.B., native had two points in Rimouski's Game 7 win over Blainville-Boisbriand and also scored the game-winner in the sixth game of that series.

Honourable mention: Nathan MacKinnon, Halifax Mooseheads (QMJHL)

MacKinnon and the Mooseheads are boats against the current again after going down 2-0 to Rimouski. But the Cole Harbour comet did his utmost to try to help his team tying the series, scoring two go-ahead goals in the third period before resolute Rimouski wore down the Mooseheads defenders to pull out the victory. The two goals gave MacKinnon 13 in the playoffs, setting a Mooseheads record for goals in a single post-season. The former marker was held by Jamie Brown, whose 12-goal playoff came during his overage season in 1996-97. (Brown was a defenceman, though.)

Halifax has to win 2-of-3 games in Rimouski, starting with Game 3 on Monday, to retain a chance to reaching the President's Cup final.

Honourable mention: Patrick Holland, Tri-City Americans (WHL)

Holland and the Ams were a hard-luck case, letting a two-goal third-period lead get away in their Game 2 loss to Portland. The Montreal Canadiens prospect probably deserved better than being the last man back on the rush where Rattie scored the game-winner. Holland had a goal and an assist, giving him four multi-point efforts in Tri-City's past five games.

Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Contact him at neatesager@yahoo.ca and follow him on Twitter @neatebuzzthenet.