Friday 18 January 2013

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

9 comments:

  1. Great game Hurricanes! Great to see you stop a team that so few others have. Good luck on the rest of the road trip.

    -cc

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  2. Great effort by the Canes. Finally they come through in a shootout. To beat the top team in the WHL, riding a 14 game winning streak in front of their 9500 fans...priceless! Here's hoping they can ride that momentum into Everett and add 2 more points.

    Hope Pat's voice recovers!

    JBL

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  3. Excellent game to listen to!! Good job Canes!

    Carruth was 20-2 coming into the game and the Canes finally got to him... don't get too cocky now, lets win 3 in a row this weekend!

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  4. At least I didn't miss the entire comeback! Not sure what got under their saddle, but good to hear the team come back against a super tough Winterhawks team and a tough place to play!

    Let's keep up the hard work!

    Darren

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  5. I love being wrong most of the time! Nice feather for the team and coaches. Great result. Thanks Ty Rimmer. What was going on after the shoot-out? Mac Carruth having a little sulk? A little aggravated Tantrum, maybe? Canes working on their diplomatic relations skills?

    WHL TV had a LOUSY and choppy broadcast on this game, so had to watch most of the game 5-15 minutes behind.

    First, the Canes get whipped and ruled by <.500 divisional rival Tigers, then they go ahead and beat the best team in the WHL (No. 2 in the CHL) on a 14-0-0-0 streak. Richie.

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  6. Shoulda listened to it LIVE on the radio Ritchie. No choppy broadcast problems there! LOL

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    1. I Sync Pat with whl live so I have the best if both :)
      Peter

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  7. Good job Pat, sounded like the 7th game of a playoff series. Just a tad excited? The location of the broadcast area adds to the atmosphere. Hope your voice recovers for tonight. Any player injuries from last night?
    Pops

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  8. Darren ,you crack me up.Whats up you forgot to write your negative rant.You always seem to have something to complain about. I hate nothing more then people that jump on and off the bus. A true fan supports the team through the good and bad.

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