Winterhawks Down Edmonton 5-2 Friday
The Portland Winterhawks (35-15-0-3) got two first period goals from Nino Niederreiter and two late empty net goals to earn a 5-2 win over the visiting Edmonton Oil Kings (24-25-1-3) Friday at the Memorial Coliseum in front of 5,023 fans.
The Winterhawks struck 2:08 into the game on a power play when Niederreiter tipped in a Troy Rutkowski shot from the point to make it 1-0. Portland extended the lead at the 9:20 mark when Brendan Leipsic fired a puck five-hole past Oil Kings netminder Jon Groenheyde on a delayed Edmonton penalty to make it 2-0.
Later in the period, Niederreiter scored his second goal of the game on a penalty shot after having been hauled down from behind at the 13:15 mark to make it 3-0, a score that would last through the end of the period.
The Oil Kings got on the board at the 17:14 mark of the second period when Dylan Wruck scored his 31st goal of the season to make it 3-1, the lone goal of the second period.
Edmonton got to within one at the 4:49 mark of the third period when Colton Stephenson banged in a rebound to make it 3-2. The score remained 3-2 until the last minute of play. With the Hawks still leading by one, Edmonton pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker, and Ryan Johansen took advantage by putting it into the empty net to make it 4-2. With the net empty again, Portland scored 17 seconds later as Seth Swenson notched his first of the season to make it 5-2, a score that would stand as the final.
Portland outshot Edmonton 39-32 on the night. Mac Carruth picked up the win with 30 saves on 32 Edmonton shots, while Groenheyde made 34 saves on the 37 shots he faced.
The Hawks are back in action tomorrow night when they host the Tri-City Americans at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Coliseum in a matchup between the top two teams in the Western Conference. It will also be a Salute to the Buckaroos, Portland’s original sports dynasty. The Buckaroos won three Lester Patrick Cups between 1960 and 1974 in the professional Western Hockey League.
