Portland Blitzes Seattle 5-1
Published on November 5, 2022 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release
Portland, Ore. - Four consecutive goals and a steady 28-save performance from Dante Giannuzzi carried the Portland Winterhawks past the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-1 on Friday night.
The win moves Portland into a tie with Seattle for first place in the WHL's Western Conference.
The Winterhawks wasted no time lighting the lamp tonight as Ryan McCleary potted his first of the season 20 seconds into the contest. After a breakout pass from Aidan Litke, McCleary raced down the right wing before cutting into the middle and wiring a wrist shot through bodies to beat Scott Ratzlaff on the stick side. Five minutes later, Marek Alscher doubled Portland's advantage with a seeing-eye shot from the blue line to make it 2-0 heading into the second period.
Portland continued its onslaught in the sandwich stanza with another pair of tallies, both on the power play. Jack O'Brien made it 3-0 as he hammered home a Luca Cagnoni rebound at 10:08, then James Stefan ripped home a Robbie Fromm-Delorme feed on a 2-on-1 at 14:01 to effectively ice the game. Seattle got one back on a late second-period power play marker by Jordan Gustafson, but Giannuzzi was unflappable in the third and Marcus Nguyen put the game away with an empty-netter late in the final frame.
The Winterhawks and Thunderbirds meet again in less than 24 hours, this time in Kent, WA at accesso ShoWare Center. Puck drop is set for 6:05 P.M. for tomorrow's tilt.
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