Offense Guides Hawks to Fifth Straight Win
Portland Winterhawks (4) vs Brandon Wheat Kings (3)
Westoba Place, Brandon, MB– Tuesday, January 8, 2019
The Hawks make it five straight wins with a 4-3 victory against the Wheat Kings on Tuesday night.
It was an offensive first period as both teams scored a pair. Brandon’s Ben McCartney scored twice in the opening four minutes of the game on the team’s first two shots of the night.
Michal Kvasnica cut into the 2-0 deficit with a nifty spin around shot from the point to evade the defender and beat Jiri Patera on his glove side. The Winterhawks tied the game before the end of the first period on a redirected pass in the crease by Seth Jarvis to make it 2-2.
Coming out for the middle frame, the Winterhawks continued to find offensive chances and they scored the go-ahead goal in the final six minutes of the period. On an odd-man rush, Brandon broke up the initial pass, but Jake Gricius improvised and sent it left wing for Jaydon Dureau who shot it into an open net to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead.
After allowing the first two goals, Shane Farkas settled into a groove and turned aside 21 straight pucks through 40 minutes of play.
Portland added a shorthanded insurance marker in the third period to put the Hawks up by two. With Joachim Blichfeld charging in for a breakaway, Patera was forced to skate out of his net to play the puck. He turned it over to Jake Gricius as the blueline who found Blichfeld on a pass behind the goaltender and the Hawks put it in the open net to increase their lead.
Brandon scored a few minutes later to keep things interesting, but the Winterhawks withheld the attack and made it four straight wins against the Wheat Kings, beating them 4-3.
Portland heads to Canada to play six games in nine nights against the East Division teams. They return on January 19th for a home game against Everett in the sunset game at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. The puck is set to drop at 5:00 p.m. Be sure to visit winterhawks.com/tickets for full details on pricing and availability.
Scoring Summary:
- 1st @ 1:14 – BDN – Ben McCartney (10), Ridly Greig
- 1st @ 3:45 – BDN – Ben McCartney (11), Connor Gutenberg, Ridly Greig
- 1st @ 5:37 – POR – Michal Kvasnica (7) , Lane Gilliss
- 1st @ 15:38 – POR – Seth Jarvis (10), Jaydon Dureau, Reece Newkirk
- 2nd @ 14:39 – POR – Jaydon Dureau (9), Jake Gricius, Nick Cicek
- 3rd @ 10:03 – POR – Joachim Blichfeld (37), Jake Gricius [Shorthanded]
- 3rd @14:53 – BDN – Braden Schneider (5), Caiden Daley
SHOTS ON GOAL:
POR: 51
BDN: 35
POWER-PLAY:
POR: 0/3
BDN: 0/3
SAVES:
POR: Shane Farkas with 32 saves
BDN: Jiri Patera with 47 saves
