WHL Portland Winterhawks

Špunar Shutout Paces Portland's Game 2 Win

April 2, 2023 - Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


A dominant performance saw the Winterhawks oust the Silvertips 4-0 for a 2-0 series lead.

Round 1, Game 2: Portland (4) vs Everett (0) [POR leads series 2-0]

SOG: POR (32) - EVT (23)

PP: POR (1/2) - EVT (0/2)

Saves: Špunar (23/23) - Palmer (28/31)

COMPLETE BOX SCORE

SCORING:

POR - 10:23 - First Period - Marcus Nguyen (3) from Ryan McCleary and Robbie Fromm-Delorme

POR - 13:38 - First Period - Marcus Nguyen (4) from Luca Cagnoni

POR - 15:46 - Second Period - Jack O'Brien (1) from Robbie Fromm-Delorme and James Stefan

POR - 18:44 - Third Period - Jack O'Brien (2) *EN

The Story:

Two goals apiece from Marcus Nguyen and Jack O'Brien and a 23-save shutout from Jan Špunar carried the Winterhawks to a 4-0 win over the Silvertips in Game 2 of their first-round playoff series.

Portland now holds a 2-0 series lead over Everett.

The Nguyen Show picked up where it left off last night as the Calgary, Alta. native tallied twice in short order during the first period. Ryan McCleary teed up the first one, carrying the puck across the blue line on a rush and finding Nguyen streaking down the right side for a tidy finish into the top corner. Just over three minutes later, another defenseman helped set the stage as Luca Cagnoni collected the puck at the blue line, slipped down the right-wing boards and deftly backhanded a saucer pass into the crease for Nguyen to tap home and give Portland a 2-0 lead.

After converting on three of four chances in Game 1, Portland's power play again delivered late in the second period of Game 2. A well-executed set play started with James Stefan at the left point, who fed Robbie Fromm-Delorme at the side of the net for a no-look, spinning pass through the crease to a wide-open O'Brien on the back door. The Winterhawks carried a 3-0 lead into the third period, and an O'Brien empty-netter capped off a dominant playoff performance from the hosts.

The series now shifts north to Angel of the Winds Arena for Game 3 on Monday and Game 4 on Friday.

QUOTE OF THE NIGHT presented by BBF TECHNOLOGIES:

"It's nice to reach the second win, an important win for us. I hope it will help us next game...I'm thankful for (the defensemen) because they blocked a lot of shots. It's a big part of our game, we want to play like this."

Winterhawks goaltender Jan Špunar

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics



Western Hockey League Stories from April 2, 2023


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