An unconvincing win over the conference’s lowest-ranked team, but good enough to stop a 3-game losing streak for the Portland Winterhawks. They beat the Victoria Royals 3-1 Friday night at the Coliseum. Power play goals by Gabe Klassen and Ryder Thompson early in the 3rd made the difference.
They won despite being outshot by Victoria, who had outshot opponents in only 4 of 24 games all season, and despite trailing after the 1st period, the first time all season Victoria lead a game after the first 20 minutes.
Scoring summary
| 2:52 VIC Carter Dereniwsky (Teydon Trembecky, Justin Kipkie) 0-1 | The decisive goal for Victoria’s season-first lead after 20. Kipkie from the right point wraps a pass around the boards behind the net, it gets to Dereniwsky behind the net via a touch from Trembecky. Jan Špunar is terribly slow to react to the pass and Dereniwsky beats him to the post with a wraparound with Špunar basically looking in the other direction. A goal no WHL goalie should give up. |
| 20:27 POR Jack O’Brien (Aidan Litke, Ryan McCleary) 1-1 | Winterhawks start the 2nd well. McCleary from the left boards puts it toward the net, Litke helps it on its way to the front, and O’Brien at the top of the crease gets a little touch on it to put it off the post and in. |
| 43:28 POR (pp) Gabe Klassen (Jack O’Brien, Luca Cagnoni) 2-1 | With Portland on a 5 on 3, quick passes from Cagnoni and O’Brien get Klassen an opportunity in the slot, and he finishes nicely. |
| 44:49 POR (pp) Ryder Thompson (Robbie Fromm-Delorme, Dawson Pasternak) 3-1 | The power play becomes a 5 on 4 and Portland scores again. Thompson one-times a shot from the blue line, not particularly powerful but Nicholas Cristiano only gets 75% of it and it trickles behind him and in. |
Narratives
Pregame: Victoria is bad and Portland is playing badly; the Winterhawks were hoping for a decisive win to show they were no longer playing badly.
1st period: The first lead of the season for the Royals after the 1st period, but it was kind of a fluke. A bad goal allowed by Špunar, two big saves by Cristiano along with quite a few lucky saves, and Portland trailed despite being the better team.
2nd period: The Winterhawks got the tie in the first 30 seconds, and then were outplayed by the Royals the rest of the period. Victoria still hasn’t led after 2 periods all season.
3rd period: Portland capitalized twice on the early 5 on 3, and then the game became a slog, with both teams playing like it was their third game in three nights. Just good enough for Portland to win.
Won on offense, defense, or special teams: Special teams, with Portland getting the 2 power play goals and going 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.
Best team won?: Yes.
Injuries/suspensions: Dawson Pasternak returned after missing two games. Portland was still missing a lot of depth and 15-year-old Ryan Miller made his WHL debut and played a few minutes. Victoria was missing their top goalie, Tyson Palmer, who might be wanting a trade, and 5-5 Dane Marcus Almquist, who’s getting ready for World Juniors.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Jack O’Brien | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | Only credited with the goal at the moment, but the assist will come. Even with only a 1-point night he was the best player. |
| Jan Špunar | POR | 29 saves-30 shots | Had a good game after that bad goal. |
| Gabe Klassen | POR | 1 goal | Set some chances up and got the winner. |
| Carter Dereniwsky | VIC | 1 goal | |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | ||
| Ryder Thompson | POR | 1 goal | |
| Nicholas Cristiano | VIC | 25 saves-28 shots | Looked shaky on the goals and some saves, but made some big saves and stopped enough pucks to keep it close. |
| Ryan McCleary | POR | 1 assist | |
| Brayden Schuurman | VIC | ||
| Luca Cagnoni | POR | 1 assist |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Royals | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 18-4-1-1 | 3-19-3 |
| Goal difference | +27 | -61 |
| Goals/game | 4.1 | 2.4 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.0 | 4.9 |
| Power play | 29.4% | 15.0% |
| Penalty kill | 83.3% | 70.8% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.3 | 4.3 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Outshooting opponents | 21-3 | 5-18-2 |
| After 1 period | 12-7-5 | 1-13-11 |
| After 2 periods | 13-4-7 | 0-22-3 |
| Score, last 10 games | 34-24 | 23-60 |
| Score, last 20 games | 82-62 | 51-99 |
Portland Winterhawks
Not the game they were looking for to cure their slump. They’ve been outshot in 3 out of 4 after starting the season 20-0. They go back up I-5 for the third time in ten days to face a rested Everett, and that game is a pick ‘em. On the bright side they increased their lead over Seattle at the top of the Western Conference to 5 points, although they gave Seattle another game in hand.
Victoria Royals
Put together a good effort, but they’ve now lost 10 in a row and it’s a hopeless season. Spokane’s and Edmonton’s records are just as bad, but Edmonton just won a league championship and Spokane has some top-end young players. Victoria doesn’t seem to have anything going for them.
Next games
Saturday at Everett, 6pm
Wednesday vs. Prince George, 7pm
next Saturday vs. Seattle, 5pm (Teddy Bear Toss)
Looking ahead: Sunday 12/11 vs. Everett, 5pm
next Victoria game: Friday 1/20 vs. Victoria, 7pm
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