Hurricanes End Winterhawks 14 Game Win Streak

PORTLAND, OR. - The Lethbridge Hurricanes erased a 3-0 deficit and battled back to beat the Portland Winterhawks 5-4 in a shoot out Friday night.

It was fast-paced hockey game in Portland and it was the Winterhawks who got things going in this one.  Brendan Leipsic scored on a 3-on-1 rush to open the scoring, giving Portland a 1-0 lead.  The Canes coughed the puck up at the Portland blueline and it's turned into an odd-man rush the other way.  Before the end of the period, the Hawsk would score again, this time on a 5-on-3 power play. Tyler Wotherspoon hammered a point shot, beating Ty Rimmer to Portland a 2-0 lead after 40 minutes.  The Winterhawks held a 16-9 edge in shots on goal.

In the second, the Winterhawks would extend their lead when Oliver Bjorkstrand fired a shot which beat Rimmer, giving Portland a 3-0 lead.  But the Hurricanes would mount a bit of a comeback.  Reid Duke, who's been the hottest Hurricane as of late would get Lethbridge on the board with his 6th goal in his last 5 games, cutting the Portland lead to 3-1.  Duke beat Mac Carruth off a nice feed from Jaimen Yakubowski.  Just over 5 minutes later, the Canes would make it a one goal hockey game when Harrison Harper stole the puck at the Hawks blueline and snapped a shot by Carruth, for his first-even WHL goal to cut the Portland lead to 3-2 after 40 minutes.  The shots favoured Portland 27-20.

In the third, the Hurricanes would rally to find the tying goal.  After a mad scramble in front of the Portland goal. Jamal Watson fired home his 10th goal of the season to even the score at 3-3.  The Hawks would regain the lead a few minutes later on the power play when Nick Patan scored on a power play to make it 4-3 Portland.  Not too long after the Canes would get a power play and again they would tie the score.  Sam McKechnie turn and fired a shot which beat Carruth in the Portland goal and then tied the game at 4-4, eventually sending the game into overtime.  The extra period solved nothing, so this game would head into the shoot out to decide the winner.  In the shoot out, Remi Laurencelle and Reid Duke scored for Lethrbidge and Ty Rimmer closed the gate as the Hurricanes would skate away with a 5-4 comeback victory.  The win improves the Hurricanes record to 22-20-1-5 on the season. Portland out shot the Canes 47-33. Lethbridge went 1/6 on the power plat and Portland finished the night 2/5.  The Hurricanes also put an end to Portland's amazing 14 game winning streak.

RAMSAY & HENRY RETURN

The Hurricanes got back two players for the game in Portland.  Brady Ramsay made his return after missing two games with a suspension and Adam Henry was back on the blueline.  He missed the past couple game with an injury.  Josh Derko still hasn't been cleared to play and it's looking more likely that he'll play his first game as a Hurricanes next Friday at home when the Canes host Calgary.  Russ Maxwell is also nursing a lower body injury and missed his second straight game Friday.

NEXT UP

The Hurricanes will drive up Interstate 5 and head to Kent, Washington for the next few nights as they get set for their last two opponents on this U.S. road trip.  On Saturday (Jan. 19) the Hurricanes will take on the Silvertips in Everett.  This will be the only meeting of the season between the two clubs.  The Canes will face one of their former players in this game, defenceman Landon Oslanski. The tips are ranked 7th in the Western Conference standings. Game time from Comcast Arena is 8:00 pm MST.  The pre-game show on CJOC at 7:30.

Thanks,
Pat