Hawks Top T-Birds 4-1 for Fourth Straight Win
Published on February 10, 2024 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
Portland, Ore. - Gabe Klassen and James Stefan each scored twice, Jan Špunar made 17 saves on 18 shots and the Portland Winterhawks knocked off their rival Seattle Thunderbirds once again, 4-1, at the VMC on Saturday night.
The Winterhawks have won four consecutive contests and their record now stands at 35-12-2-1 on the year (73pts, 1st Western Conference). Portland has beaten Seattle in six of their seven meetings this season (5-0-1-0).
Klassen's opener came midway through the first period after Luca Cagnoni and Nate Danielson played a bit of catch at the blue line. Danielson then threaded a pass through an open lane in the middle to the tape of Klassen, who tapped it home for a 1-0 lead. Seattle goaltender Scott Ratzlaff withstood plenty of pressure from Portland throughout the night with 47 saves on 50 total shots, but Klassen again dented the Buffalo Sabres prospect on a wraparound 5:44 into the middle frame to double the hosts' lead.
The Thunderbirds got on the board through Kazden Mathies at 16:03 of the second, setting the stage for what was a tense one-goal contest in the third period. But two Stefan strikes - a one-timer set up by Diego Buttazzoni at 17:10 and an empty-netter 1:10 later - in the final three minutes gave Portland a 4-1 victory.
The Winterhawks now look ahead to a matchup with the second-ranked Everett Silvertips at home on Tuesday.
-- WINTERHAWKS.COM -
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