The (39-17-4-3) take on the (50-9-1-2) in Western Hockey League action. Friday, March 17, 7pm PDT. Kent
Washington. You can stream the game via the and audio. Portland beat Spokane 6-2 on Tuesday night. Luca Cagnoni had 3 points, while Jack O’Brien, Marcus Nguyen, and Robbie Fromm-Delorme each had 2. Portland scored 3 goals in the last 8 minutes of the 1st, and that put the game away. It’s a tricky stretch now for the Winterhawks. To an extent they’ve put their 9-game losing streak behind them. They have points in their last 5 games--3 wins and 2 overtime losses. With no chance of catching Kamloops from behind or being caught from behind by Prince George, they’re locked into 3rd in the Western Conference. So getting ready for the playoffs is the prime goal now. But with 4 out of their last 5 games against the Seattle Thunderbirds, on paper the best team in junior hockey, progress in getting ready for the playoffs isn’t likely to be reflected on the scoreboard much. They easily could lose 4 or 5 of their last 5, and generally it’s hard to look good while losing. Mentally, it’s going to be a challenge for both them and the fans. It’s a 5-game point streak for Nguyen, who lately has found a way to pop up to score goals and create chances without necessarily being dominant shift-to-shift. And he’s gotten back toward beating players down the ice to open pucks. Klassen came back with an assist after having his 5-game point streak snapped at Tri-City. Stefan scored his first goal since February 15, a stretch of 8 games plus 2 he missed due to suspension. Klassen (67 points/59 games), Fromm-Delorme (62/60), Stefan (61/59), O’Brien (55/61), Nguyen (43/61). Cagnoni in the second half of the season has gone back-and-forth under and over the point-per-game line. With four games against that stingy defense, staying over will be a challenge. Alscher has made it into the top 3 defensemen in scoring. Cagnoni (63/62), McCleary (29/61), Alscher (22/55), Sotheran (22/63). Špunar has gotten 5 of the last 7 starts. I’d still tend to think they’re giving Giannuzzi a bit of a rest before the grind of playoff back-to-backs. But it’s also possible they have their eye on going with Špunar. Giannuzzi .899, Špunar .906. They’re the best team on paper in junior hockey, after trading off most of their future to try to win it all this season. They’ve won 15 of their last 16, and the loss was a 3-2 shootout loss to the 2nd-ranked team in the West, the Kamloops Blazers. So they haven’t lost in regulation since a 1-0 loss to the Everett Silvertips on February 4. They’ve scored 3 or more in every game since except the Kamloops game, and have scored 4 or more in 12 of those 16. They’ve allowed 2 or fewer in 13 of the 16. So, they’re rolling. They still have to finish off Kamloops to clinch 1st in the conference, and they’re 4 points behind Winnipeg with a game in hand for 1st overall in the league. It will be tough to catch Winnipeg, as it’s hard to see them losing more than one game, but the Thunderbirds still have something to play for. They do have some injury issues to their forward line, but that was part of the point of their deadline acquisitions, to create a team full of stars that was impervious to injury and fatigue. As it is, the one player they can’t afford to get hurt is Kevin Korchinski. Gustafson and Sawchyn are week-to-week, Dach and Iginla are day-to-day. Gustafson has only played 2 of the last 23. Dach and Sawchyn has missed the last 4, and Iginla has missed the last 6. Schaefer had an 8-game streak snapped against Everett. Since their acquisitions, Lambert has 32 points in 21 games and Guenther has 20 in 15. Davidson (79/55), Ciona (70/57), Crnkovic (63/61), Sawchyn (58/58), Schaefer (54/50). A 5-game point streak and 15 of his last 16 for Korchinski. Korchinski (66/49), Hanzel (41/61), Mynio (26/62). Without having to make too many tough choices on goalies, they’ve mostly alternated them for a month. Milic had the last game against Everett, where he only had to face 15 shots and stopped 14. Ratzlaff .922, Milic .928.