Charlie Coyle’s three points give Saint John 3-1 series lead: Thursday’s 3 Stars

No. 1 star: Charlie Coyle, Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)

Two days after missing a chance to put a stranglehold on their QMJHL semifinal series with Chicoutimi, Saint John pulled through with a 3-2 OT win on Thursday, led by Charles Coyle who scored his 12th and 13th goals of the playoffs, including the overtime winner 6:13 into the extra frame. Saint John is now up 3-1 in the series.

Coyle drove the puck to the front of the net and created enough space to get another whack at the loose puck after initially being stopped by Christopher Gibson. Earlier in the game, he scored in a pretty weak spot from a bad angle, firing a low shot from about five feet to the wrong side of the right circle. In the second period, he put a puck from nearly the same location on net, and the ensuing rebound was banged in by Jonathan Huberdeau, giving Coyle the assist and three points on the night.

No. 2 star: Cam Reid, Portland Winterhawks (WHL)

Cam Reid has scored several big goals in big moments for the Winterhawks this postseason, and their postseason will continue for at least another playoff round; Reid scored the first of four Portland goals for a comeback win over the Tri-City Americans and sending the team back to the Western Hockey League championship series.

After furious pressure by the Winterhawks in the first couple of periods, Reid finally put one past a red-hot Ty Rimmer, walking in from the wing for his fifth goal of the playoffs. The goal brought a packed Rose Garden to life, as nearly 11,000 fans helped the 'Hawks the rest of the way. Reid's goal tied the game at one, and they finished off the series, having learned their lesson of last round and not giving the Americans an inch.

No. 3 star: Mathieu Corbeil, Saint John Sea Dogs (QMJHL)

Corbeil made just 28 saves in this one (off of 30 shots) but he prolonged "la prolongation" with a marvelous glove save on Chicoutimi's Steve Lebel on the sequence leading up to the Coyle winner.

[Chicoutimi - Saint John highlights can be found here at RDS.ca]

Corbeil's playoff save percentage is now .912, which is only a few shades below Jacob DeSerres' .916 of last season's playoffs. While pundits have discussed Corbeil as a weak point on a strong Saint John squad, the numbers don't show it. He hasn't been a hugely important piece to the Sea Dogs run, but it's nice to know that the team can count on him for saves like this when they need it most. A 3-1 series lead looks much better than a 2-2 series headed back to Harbour Station.

Honourable mention: Ty Rimmer, Tri-City Americans (WHL)

We knew that goaltending would be a factor in the Portland/Tri-City series, and that the Americans would have to bank on Ty Rimmer for a chance. That didn't turn out to be the case, as Rimmer put in two awesome starts in the Portland half of the four-game series (stopping 101 of 107 shots) but it wasn't enough to prevent the sweep.

Rimmer, as noted above, kept the team in this game until about halfway through when he finally broke, but his numbers in this one were extremely impressive: he stopped 57 of 61 shots, being put in front of a massive Portland attack that was hungry and determined to close this game out in four in front of their home fans.

Potent notables: Mac Carruth was given the first star in the building at the Rose Garden, stopping 39 of 40 shots... Ty Rattie's assist on Marcel Noebels' eventual winning goal has given him a point in every playoff game so far... Brendan Shinnimin earned another assist. His WHL point streak is at 38 games, but he's played his last.