Hurricanes Doubled 6-3 by Winterhawks
Portland, OR – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered their third straight loss on Friday with a 6-3 loss to the Portland Winterhawks at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Hurricanes continued a stretch of nine games in nine cities with the second of a five-game road trip against the Winterhawks. Portland had a great start to the game as the kept Lethbridge pinned in their own zone and the ‘Hawks pulled ahead with an opening goal at the 2:18 mark when Jordan Duguay buried a rebound to make it 1-0; Kyle McDonough and Reed Brown picked up the assists on the goal. The Hurricanes drew even just over three-minutes later when Brayden Edwards, who played his 200th WHL game, buried his 11th goal of the year at the 5:53 mark to tie the game; Logan Wormald and Tristen Doyle earned the assists on the goal – with the helper, Wormald reached the 100-assist plateau in his career in his 200th career game. The Winterhawks pulled back ahead with a shorthanded goal with 5:08 remaining in the period on a two-on-nothing as Kyle Chyzowski banged home a rebound after Koen Cleaver made a great save on Tyson Jugnauth. Portland outshot Lethbridge 16-11 in the first period and held a 2-1 lead after twenty minutes of play.
Portland opened the second period with a five-on-three power play and they made good just 32-seconds into the frame as Diego Buttazzoni ripped home a one-timer for his ninth goal of the season making it 3-1 for the Winterhawks. Just 19-seconds later, Buttazzoni struck again redirecting a centering pass from Carter Sotheran to open a three-goal lead in the opening minute of the second period. The Hurricanes remained on their heels as the Winterhawks added another goal at the 2:35 mark when Jugnauth buried a wrist-shot beating Cleaver blocker side to make it 5-1; that was the end of the night for Cleaver as he was replaced by Brady Smith after allowing five goals on 19 shots. Smith was tested right away as Portland kept their foot on the gas as he was forced to make a glove save on a breakaway for Josh Zakreski to keep it a four-goal game. The ‘Hawks struck again with the man advantage at the 8:17 mark as Duguay tapped home his second of the night to add to Portland’s big lead. The Hurricanes outshot the Winterhawks 11-10 in the period, but it was Portland that struck four times to lead 6-1 after forty minutes of play.
In the third period, the Hurricanes dug into the Winterhawks lead at the 2:23 mark when Edwards stuffed home his second of the night – and 12th of the year – to make it a 6-2 game; Will Sharpe and Logan McCutcheon were credited with the assists on the four-on-four goal. The ‘Canes added another goal late in the period as Leo Braillard banged home his 10th goal of the season to make it a 6-3 final; Miguel Marques and Sharpe earned the assists. Shots in the third period favoured Portland 14-13.
The Hurricanes were outshot 40-34 in the game by the Winterhawks.
Three stars of the game were:
1) Winterhawks – #27 Tyson Jugnauth (1 goal, 1 assist)
2) Winterhawks – #90 Diego Buttazzoni (2 goals)
3) Winterhawks – #9 Jordan Duguay (2 goals)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their third straight defeat as they road record fell to 4-6-0-0 on the season and 3-2-0-0 in their last five games away from home. Lethbridge’s overall record fell to 12-8-1-0 on the season while falling to 1-3-1-0 against Western Conference opponents. The ‘Canes are now 3-3-0-0 in a stretch of nine games in nine different cities.
The Hurricanes will end their three-game US Division road swing on Saturday when they visit the Seattle Thunderbirds in their Teddy Bear Toss game at the accesso ShoWare Center at 7:00pm MT. Lethbridge will return home to welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday, December 3rd at 7:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
