The final three Canadian teams waltzed through Portland as the Winterhawks looked to just their American counterparts for the remaining three weeks, with one quick stop in Kamloops this week versus the Blazers.
First up was the Moose Jaw Warriors, a team in on the sweepstakes at the trade deadline and landed Matthew Savoie from the Wenatchee Wild. Moose Jaw is competing in the Eastern Conference. Still, it won’t catch up to the Saskatoon Blades unless they tank in their final games and are keeping a reasonable distance from the third-place Swift Current Broncos, who also partook in the sweepstakes with Wenatchee Wild in landing Connor Geekie. The Warriors are playoff-bound, and against the Hawks, they were in playoff mode.
Savoie showed off his skills in scoring the only goal in the first period. In fact, that goal held through the second period as well. It was only during the third period that the floodgates opened up. Moose Jaw went up 2-0 early in the third before Jack O’Brien broke the goose egg just a few minutes later. Moose Jaw regained their two-goal lead with the second by Savoie. A minute later, Nate Danielson scored to pull the Hawks within one. Taking a chance, Mike Johnston pulled netminder Jan Spunar for an extra attacker, only to have Moose Jaw score into the empty net. Gabe Klassen scored for Portland, but they could get no closer, dropping a 4-3 decision to Moose Jaw; Portland led 30-26 in shots, and the virtually penalty-free game saw Portland 0-1 and Moose Jaw 0-2.
The Regina Pats came to town lowly in the Eastern Division. There was thought that the Pats GM might pull the trigger in a blockbuster trade with Connor Bedard, knowing that Bedard was NHL-bound. He never did, and the Pats, now without Bedard, are mired close to last place in the division and will not be playoff-bound this year. The Hawks pounded Regina netminder Ewan Huet with 49 shots to just 15 for the Pats, and if not for the heroics of Ewan Huet, the score would have been a blowout. In the end, goals by Hudson Darby, Josh Davies, and Nate Danielson were all they needed to secure a 3-0 shutout. That gave the Hawks 40 wins so far on the season.
The Hawks went 1-5 on the powerplay, with the Pats shutout on their three tries.
Victoria Royals came to town after the Hawks had picked up a pair just over a week ago in Victoria, and revenge was on their mind. Even though the shots heavily favored Portland 49-20. the Royals weren’t about to take it easy.
Josh Zakreski opened the scoring only to see Victoria tie it up six minutes later. With less than a minute in the period and on the powerplay, Victoria scored again, taking a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes. The second period was scoreless. The third period saw Victoria score early to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. Josh Zakreski and Jack O’Brien put Victoria on their toes with goals just 45 seconds apart. Victoria would score just over a minute and a half later to restore the lead. Marcus Nguyen tallied a short-handed marker just past the fourteen-minute mark to send the game to overtime. Just 27 seconds into overtime, James Stefan notched his 42nd of the year to lift the Hawks past the Royals 5-4.
The Hawks now have 41 wins on the season, are 1 point back of the Prince George Cougars for the top spot in the Western Conference, but are two up on second-place Everett Silvertips in the US Division with three games in hand. After their game in Kamloops, the Hawks still have five road games left versus three at home.
It will be interesting to see how the Hawks react with games against Division opponents and only a couple against a team (Wenatchee) at .500 or better.
The playoffs start March 29, and eyes will be focused on whether teams did well or will take it on the chin as a result of the trade deadline.
Off late, Jan Spunar has been the only goaltender for the Hawks, Justen Maric has been the backup for all but one game since Spunar’s return, and Luke Brunen has only played in one game. His name doesn’t appear on the injury list, so it almost seems that Portland looks like they will try to take a run heavily in the postseason. Maric and Spunar are 19, an age most would look to for deeper runs in the playoffs. Spunar still sits atop goalies in GAA with 1.91. Also, the scoring has been spread around the team, and while some are strong in points, even the lower-placed players are finding scoring touch with seeing more than just one line clicking, boding well on post-season play.
