Playoff mode for the Portland Winterhawks is in full swing as they bang home 13 goals versus 5 in the past two games with now seven games to go.
The latest victims were Kamloops Blazers, a team that hosted the Memorial Cup last year and, like many who do, tanked the following year. Kamloops will be on the outside looking in come playoff time this year. The Hawks headed to the Loops for a midweek game and showed their power. Four goals in the first and second periods by James Stefan, Kyle Chyzowski, Josh Davies, and Nate Danielson seemed to show them strong. However, this sixty-minute game took a huge right turn with a Kamloops goal just eight seconds later and a pair of powerplay goals very early in the third period with two separate powerplays in 16 seconds on the same shift by Jordan Keller, bringing the crowd at the Sandman Center to life. The Hawks saw Hudson Darby knock home one four minutes later, only to see Kamloops retaliate 11 minutes later to bring the Blazers within one.
It was an empty net goal by James Stefan with just over a minute to play to seal the deal for the Winterhawks with a 6-4 win. The shots were all Hawks at 58-27, and the Hawks were a perfect 1-1 on the powerplay. Kamloops had five tries and scored twice.
With that, the Hawks headed home to the VMC and a match with the Wenatchee Wild. The game honored the original Portland Rosebuds, the first team from the US to be on the Stanley Cup.
The Wild’s move from Winnipeg this past year and subsequent trades of two assets in Conner Geekie and Matthew Savoie haven’t hurt the playoff hopes as much as one would think. That said, they will be hard-pressed to go deep after a showing in Portland, which may be an indicator of vulnerability. In the first three shots of the game, the Hawks had built up a 3-0 lead. Hudson Darby, Tyson Yaremko, and James Stefan, with his 45th of the year in just over 2 minutes midway through the first period, charged up the over 6,200 in attendance.
The second period was the lone goal by Wenatchee early in the period, but it wasn’t the only goal that came in the game.
The jets turned on for the Hawks in the third period; Josh Davies, Gabe Klassen on the powerplay, Josh Zakreski, and Marek Alscher buried the Wild in a 7-1 blitzing. Once again, Portland was like a firing rage, with shots leading 44-22 and again a perfect 1-1 on the powerplay with Wenatchee a goose egg on three tries.
For the first time in a long while, Evan Gardner overtook Jan Spunar on GAA. Gardner, at 1.90, and Spunar, at 1,91, are the only two goaltenders listed under a two-goal average per game. The Hawks are one point back of the Prince George Cougars for the Western Conference title and lead the US Division, two points up on Everett with three games in hand, meaning that Portland needs only three points in the remaining seven games to capture the US Division title. It is doubtful Portland will catch Saskatoon Blades for the overall Scotty Munro title, as the Blades are up 6 points with 6 games remaining and would have to lose most even to give Portland a shot.
Where the Hawks would outright claim a title is in goals. At 293, they are seven away from cracking 300. Their closest competitors are Prince George at 269 and Moose Jaw at 268. They can’t win the fewest goals, as they have 182 versus Saskatoon Blades’ miserly 150, but they have 43 wins, tied with Prince George and two back of Saskatoon, a doable accomplishment.
Two games remain on the TV docket: a home-and-home series with Seattle to end the regular season. Portland will play four games this week: a midweek contest in Spokane, a three-in-three-night battle as they take on Tri-City at home, and then travel to Wenatchee before a big showdown against Seattle, which will be played at the Climate Pledge Arena in Seattle.
There will be one more three-game in three-night stand to close off the regular season a week later.
