WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Even The Series With a 4-2 Win Friday in Game 4

Published on March 26, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks earned a 4-2 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Game 4 of their first round series Friday night to even their best-of-seven series at two games apiece.

The two teams will take the ice tomorrow night for Game 5 in Spokane at 7 p.m., and return to the Rose Garden in Portland for Game 6 Monday night at 7 p.m.

Like they had in the first three games of the series, the Winterhawks struck first. With Spokane scrambling in their own end, Oliver Gabriel gained control of the puck and fed Luke Walker, who shot it past Spokane netminder James Reid to make it 1-0 at the 6:15 mark of the first period. The Hawks then added to their lead at the 12:26 mark when a wrist shot by Chris Francis beat Reid to make it 2-0.

After the goal by Francis, which came on Portland's fifth shot, the Chiefs pulled Reid and replaced him with Michael Tadjdeh, and the score remained 2-0 into the first intermission.

Reid returned to the Spokane crease to open the second period, but the Winterhawks made it 3-0 when Francis scored his second of the game on a power play 7:26 into the period with a shot from the left faceoff circle. But the Chiefs would get on the board with a power play goal of their own when Tyler Johnson made it 3-1 at the 11:19 mark, and the score would remain 3-1 into the second intermission.

The Hawks regained a three-goal lead 4:09 into the third period when Nino Niederreiter brought the puck into the Spokane zone, cut across the middle into the slot and fired it past Reid to make it 4-1.

Shortly after that goal Portland's Tayler Jordan was assessed a five-minute major penalty, and six seconds into the penalty Spokane's Kyle Beach scored his fourth goal of the series to cut Portland's lead to 4-2. However, the Hawks killed off the remainder of the penalty to maintain a two-goal lead, and that 4-2 lead would stand as the final.

Portland's win continued a streak of the road team winning every game in this series. Mac Carruth got the win for the Winterhawks, stopping 29 of the 31 shots he faced, and even adding two assists. James Reid stopped 24 of 28 Portland shots, while Tadjdeh made one save on one shot after replacing Reid in the first period.

With the win tonight, the Hawks have forced a Game 6 at the Rose Garden Monday night at 7 p.m. Tickets for that game go on sale tomorrow morning online at ticketmaster.com at 10 a.m., and then in person at all Ticketmaster locations, the Rose Quarter box office and the Winterhawks' ticket office in the Memorial Coliseum Monday at 10 a.m.

The two teams hit the ice for Game 5 tomorrow night in Spokane. That game can be heard live beginning at 7 p.m. on Newsradio KXL 750 AM.

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from March 26, 2010


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