The Portland Winterhawks have to survive a great 40-minute defensive effort by the Victoria Royals, but they score three in the 3rd period to erase a deficit and win 4-3, taking a 1-0 lead in their Western Hockey League 1st round playoff series.
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The Royals, with some talented but still young defensemen, aren’t known as a great defensive team, played very well defensively for the first two periods. They held Portland, with the league’s highest shots per game total, to just 18 after 40 minutes, and took a 2-1 lead on Tanner Scott’s goal.
But Portland came back, starting with a strange play in which Royals defenseman Austin Zemlak was hurt but play continued, and Carter Sotheran took advantage to tie the game. Gabe Klassen and Luca Cagnoni then scored to make it 4-2. Victoria got a power play goal in the last minute but couldn’t execute a miracle comeback.
Sotheran, Cagnoni, James Stefan, and Nate Danielson all had 2 points for the Winterhawks. Justin Kipkie had 2 points for the Royals.
Portland tries to take a 2-0 lead in Game 2 on Saturday.
Scoring summary
| 8:31 POR Luca Cagnoni (Nate Danielson, Marcus Nguyen) 1-0 | A great pass across the grain by Danielson from the right circle gets Cagnoni and open look from the left circle, and he makes no mistake. |
| 9:45 VIC Tyson Laventure 1-1 | But then Cagnoni makes a big mistake, with pass up the middle that hit a body and went right to Laventure in the slot. |
| 38:03 VIC Tanner Scott (Justin Kipkie, Casper Evensen Haugen) 1-2 | A pass by Haugen sets up a Victoria 2 on 1 down low. Jan Špunar saves Kipkie’s shot, but he couldn’t find the rebound and Scott plants it from inside the crease. |
| 45:00 POR Carter Sotheran (Hudson Darby, Ryan Miller) 2-2 | The games most important play. Miller wins a race with Austin Zemlak to beat icing. They collide and Zemlak goes down in the corner. Victoria players start to remonstrate with Miller. Meanwhile, with play still going on, Sotheran gets the puck, makes a move into the slot, and scores. Zemlak left the game injured, but the Royals didn’t argue the collision. |
| 50:18 POR Gabe Klassen (James Stefan, Carter Sotheran) 3-2 | Sotheran’s quick pass spring both Stefan and Klassen behind the defense for a 2 on 0, and Stefan gets it across to Klassen. |
| 53:55 POR (PP) Luca Cagnoni (James Stefan, Nate Danielson) 4-2 | On the power play Cagnoni slaps one from straight on, a few feet inside the blue line. |
| 59:36 VIC (PP) Nate Misskey (Dawson Pasternak, Justin Kipkie) 4-3 | On a late Royals 6 on 4, Misskey’s shot from the right circle just gets inside the right post. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 5:41 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 5:15 |
| Tied | 42:07 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 6:57 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Narratives
Pregame: Portland was a big favorite to win the series.
1st period: But the worst shot-margin team won the shots in the 1st period against the best shot-margin team, 10-9. The teams quickly traded goals midway through the period.
2nd period: The Royals continued a strong defensive game, although it did come at the price of their offense somewhat. Still, they took the lead on Tanner Scott’s goal.
3rd period: Portland turned it on in the 3rd, and then not only did Sotheran tie the game, but on the play Victoria lost defenseman Austin Zemlak, which didn’t help their defensive performance. Portland got two more to take the lead, then took some bad penalties, and the Royals scored on the last one, but it was too late.
Best vs. best: Best players mostly the best players for both teams, but Portland’s best players were better.
Depth vs. depth: Mostly a wash, small edge to Portland if there was an edge.
Special teams winner: Portland scored what turned out to be the winning goal on the power play. Royals got a desperation power play goal in the last minute to cut the lead to 4-3.
Best team won?: Yes.
Injuries/suspensions: Zemlak was injured in the 3rd on the play where Sotheran tied the game, and didn’t return.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Carter Sotheran | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | A strong game overall, plus the two big plays, the tying goal and the pass that set James Stefan and Gabe Klassen up for the last go-ahead goal. |
| Luca Cagnoni | POR | 2 goals | He loses some points for his turnover that led to Victoria’s first goal, but he had two big goals to make up for it, the opening goal and the eventual winner. |
| Gabe Klassen | POR | 1 goal | He had some trouble missing the net, but that wasn’t the issue on the 2 on 0 where he scored the goal that gave Portland the lead they never gave up. |
| Justin Kipkie | VIC | 2 assists | Defensemen, including Kipkie and Misskey, played pretty well overall for the Royals. |
| Nate Misskey | VIC | 1 goal | Got the late goal to make it 4-3. |
| Nate Danielson | POR | 2 assists | 6-game point streak. |
| James Stefan | POR | 2 assists | 3-game point streak. |
| Braden Holt | VIC | 30 saves-34 shots | Would have been a lot higher after two periods. |
| Ryan Miller | POR | 1 assist | Part of the big play in which Sotheran scored the tying goal. |
| Tanner Scott | VIC | 1 goal | Scored to give the Royals their 2-1 lead. |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Austin Zemlak | VIC | They missed him some in the 3rd period. Hope he’s OK. | |
| Kyle Chyzowski | POR | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Josh Davies | POR | Two late penalties, neither of which were very disciplined. Taunted the Royals late in the game pointing at the scoreboard, which would have been more compelling if he’d put points on that scoreboard. | |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 3-game point streak snapped. | |
| Tyson Laventure | VIC | 1 goal | 4-game point streak. |
| Jan Špunar | POR | 22 saves-25 shots | Played OK at times. Didn’t have a game that would silence the worriers. |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Royals | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 49-15-4-1 (.746) | 29-31-5-4 (.486) |
| Scored/allowed (diff) | 334-207 (+127) | 224-276 (-52) |
| Goals/game | 4.8 | 3.2 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.0 | 4.0 |
| Power play | 27.0% | 20.9% |
| Penalty kill | 78.8% | 75.7% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 4.0 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.0 | 3.8 |
| Outshooting opponents | 60-8-1 | 20-47-2 |
| After 1 period | 45-11-13 | 23-27-19 |
| After 2 periods | 43-19-7 | 30-33-6 |
| Score, last 10 games | 54-30 (+24) | 33-52 (-19) |
| Score, last 20 games | 99-55 (+44) | 55-95 (-40) |
Portland Winterhawks
The game didn’t exactly answer the questions they might have had coming into the series, but at least it didn’t create more. One more win to at least guarantee coming back to Portland for a Game 6.
Victoria Royals
The defensive effort in the first two periods is their blueprint for winning. It might be beyond them to be able to do it for a full 60 minutes, but this is a fairly young team, and it might not be beyond them next year. Which might the endgame.
Next games
Saturday vs. Victoria, 6pm PDT (Game 2)
Tuesday at Victoria, 7pm PDT (Game 3)
Wednesday at Victoria, 7pm PDT (Game 4)
Friday at Victoria, 7pm PDT (Game 5 if necessary)