The Portland Winterhawks played the Prince Albert Raiders in their only matchup of the regular season. Just over four minutes into the contest, the Raiders scored and held that lead through the period. Things got a little testy in the period and carried over to the second, where the Hawks tied it up with a Nicholas Johnson finisher from Marcus Nguyen and Jack O’Brien. Rhett Ravindal for the Hawks and Matej Kubiesa for the Raiders had eyes on each other all night and ended in a brawl in the middle of the second. Both players ended up with the most penalties on the night. Just before their skirmish, the Raiders scored again and ended up with a 2-1 tough-fought win over the Hawks.
Portland fired 38 shots at Max Hildebrand for the Raiders, 14 in the third period, and several rang off posts. Jan Spunar took the loss with 25 shots his way. Neither team scored on the powerplay, with Portland having four tries and Prince Albert having three. Just under 5,000 took in this match.
Two days later, Portland hosted the Everett Silvertips. Everett has played four more games than Portland and leads in the standings by a point. Portland needed to get specialty teams going again, and it’d be tough versus the Tips.
Just over four minutes in, Jack O’Brien scored on the powerplay on an Austin Roest penalty. Jan Spunar had to leave the game just over twelve minutes after suffering a lower-body injury and was replaced by Luke Brunen. Just under nine minutes later, Roest would score one of his own. The Portland Winterhawks took back the lead on another powerplay, with Josh Davies hitting the twine with 43 seconds left in the period.
The Hawks continued their assault as Marcus Nguyen scored under two minutes into the second period. Late in the period, with just 27 seconds left, Carter Southern put the Hawks up 4-1 as the period ended.
The third period was started by Cater Southern on the powerplay just over two minutes in. The Tips weren’t done, however, as they clawed back with a regular strength goal, sandwiched between two powerplay goals in less than nine minutes, putting the Tips close to equal footing.
The Everett Silvertips tried everything to score in the third as they outshot Portland in the period 12-2, but Brunen held his ground. With less than a minute left, Josh Davies secured the game with an empty net goal, giving Portland a 6-4 win. Portland outshot Everett 39-30. and went 3 of 5 on the powerplay, with Everett 2 of 3 on their tries. Just over 4000 took in this contest.
Portland also saw Gabe Klassen end up as the WHL Player of the Week with an intense nine-point outing in a pair of games with four goals and five assists. Braeden Jockims was reassigned to the Saskatoon Comets of the SJHL, bringing Portland to 24 players on its roster.
Portland will now play Wednesday at home vs. the Victoria Royals and then three games in three nights Friday in a return bout in Everett before games at home against Saskatoon and Spokane to end November.
