The Lethbridge Hurricanes fired nearly 50 shots Friday night, but it wasn't enough as they lost 4-2 to the visiting Portland Winterhawks at the ENMAX Centre.
It was a pretty high tempo game from start to finish with some very impressive goaltending on both sides of thee ice.
The visitors opened the scoring quickly in this game. Just 29 seconds into the first period, Rodrigo Abols scored his first of two on the night to give Portland a 1-0 lead. That was the only goal in the opening 20 minutes.
In the second, the Hurricanes tied things up with an early goal of their own. Cory Millette scoring his 25th goal of the season to tie the game at 1-1. Portland though regained their one goal lead late in the period when Alex Shoenborn scored what would be his first of two in the game, giving the Hawks a 2-1 lead after two periods of play.
In the third, Portland jumped ahead by a pair when Alex Shoenborn scored again, beating Stuart Skinner to make a it a 3-1 game in favour of the Winterhawks. About three minutes later Portland scored one more time, this one a power play goal by Rodrigo Abols, putting the visitors up 4-1 in the game. The Hurricanes did get one of those back before the end of the game when Tyler Wong scored his 34th of the season in the dying seconds on a power play to cut the lead to 4-2 and that's the way this one would end.
The Hurricanes out shot Portland 48-38 on the night, but Hawks goalie Adin Hill was very good. Lethbridge went 1/3 on the power play and Portland 1/5. The loss drops the Hurricanes overall record to 40-18-1 on the season.
While I was away the last week, the Canes did something they haven't done since 2008-2009, clinch a playoff spot. They're the only team the WHL to have officially clinched a post-season berth with a month to go in the regular season.. The Hurricanes though have only four wins in their last ten games and are coming off back-to-back losses on home ice this week.
The Hurricanes have a big divisional game Saturday (Feb. 20) when they travel to Calgary to take on the Hitmen. Lethbridge has a 12 point lead on Calgary in the Central Division standings, however these divisional games are huge no matter how you slice it.
The Hurricanes next home game is Wednesday (Feb. 24) when they host the visiting Regina Pats.
Thanks,
Pat
The views expressed on this blog are those of the moderator and contributors and are not endorsed by 94.1 CJOC or the Lethbridge Hurricanes.
Pat we are 0-1 when you are the PA guy just so you know lol
ReplyDeleteGood Job well done though.
Haha! Thanks Peter. Actually it's 0-6 if you include last season. Lol
ReplyDeleteWOW! One playoff "X" on the WHL Standings board, and it is next to the HURRICANES!! NICE! Well deserved, TEAM!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the Hurricanes lost these last two home games for three reasons. Insufficient physical play. Undisciplined / reckless penalties. Didn't use their speed enough on Offence or Defence. They need to FIX both these Playoff run enders TONIGHT against the Hitmen!
Every time the Canes touched the puck, both the Hitmen and Winterhawks took the body. The Canes tend to use poke & hope FAR too much.
That 6 on 3 at the end of the hawks game was GREAT (for the hawks). Take the puck to the NET hard and fast! If 3 of your guys are basically stuck to their 3 guys, then you still have 3 left (unchecked) against the goalie!
On an unrelated note... How is the Culture change going in Sudbury, Drake B?
http://www.ontariohockeyleague.com/standings/show/ls_season/54/subtype/1
http://www.sudburywolves.com/page/2015-16-hockey-operations
Boy, am I glad we got rid of that useless bag of wind. Never heard anyone promise so much and deliver so little. He needs to get away from hockey and find something he is good at.
ATTENTION CHL TEAMS - Want to consistently pick first in the Bantam Draft? Hire the Drake!
I bet he could get a job as a WHL official.
Rev Ustink
Drake is the Associate Coach there not even the Head Coach. AND there record is better this year than there last year. They only had 12 wins in 14/15 and drake wasn't even there, this year through 56 games have 15 wins. Now I'm not standing up for Drake cause here he was a Joke, but maybe let it go and let's move on to this Season and This Team now. Enjoy :)
DeletePat, can you explain how Brandon has not yet clinched? - I thought it was top three teams per division then the next best two in Conference for 7 & 8 Wild Card spots - How is it that Brandon has not clinched?
ReplyDeleteThrough Feb 19, Brandon has 78 points, but yet has no "x".
In order for them to miss, the current 9th place team in the Conference (SC, 47p through 57 games) would need to push them out. Even if SC ran the tables in their last 15 games for 30 points, that is only 77, and still one point short.