Canes extend win streak
HURRICANES RALLY FROM TWO-GOAL DEFICIT TO BEAT WINTERHAWKS IN A SHOOTOUT
It took a little longer, but the Lethbridge Hurricanes kept their winning streak going and stopped the hottest one in the league.
The Canes got past the Portland Winterhawks 4-3 in shootout in Western Hockey League play Tuesday night at the Enmax Centre.
Trailing 3-1 early in the third to a Winterhawks team whose power play was threatening to end the game in regulation, the Hurricanes got power-play goals from Zane Franklin and Jordy Bellerive 32 seconds apart to force overtime.
When the five-minute session didn’t produce a winner, the teams went seven rounds deep into a shootout until Franklin scored scored the go-ahead goal and Canes goaltender Stuart Skinner turned away Ilijah Colina the other way for the win to extend Lethbridge’s winning streak to four games and ends the Winterhawks winning clip at 10.
Coming off a 47-save shutout Sunday in Cranbrook, Skinner kicked out another 44 shots Tuesday night as the Canes improve to 11-12-1-0.
“Beating the good teams is what gives us confidence,” said Bellerive, who scored the Hurricanes first goal as well Tuesday night for his 14th and 15th goals of the season that ups his goal scoring streak to six games. “We did it in Victoria and we did it again tonight and it shows the character we have in here after going through an eight-game slide. The tides have kind of turned for us and we’re coming in with more confidence and the ability to close games out like we did tonight.”
After a scoreless first the Winterhawks struck quickly in the second on the power play when Colina batted a loose puck in front past Skinner.
The Winterhawks added their second power-play goal midway through the second as Henri Jokiharju snapped a shot home for a 2-0 Portland lead.
The Hurricanes got one back on their sixth shot of the game with 9:04 left in the second when Bellerive took a one-time feed from Igor Merezhko and sent a shot past Portland goaltender Cole Kehler. The Winterhawks outshot the Canes 31-14 after 40 minutes.
The Winterhawks went to their third power play 4:47 into the third when Brennan Riddle was whistled for charging that wasn’t popular with the crowd of 3,139. They went up 3-1 at 5:17 when leading scorer Cody Glass capitalized on a big rebound off a shot off the post.
Shortly after, it was the Hurricanes turn to click on the man advantage.
With the Winterhawks down two men, Franklin poked home a rebound with two seconds left in the first penalty to make it 3-2. Kehler was assessed a minor for delay of game after the goal, putting the Hurricanes back on the five-on-three and Bellerive tied it up at 3-3.
“It was great timing for us,” said Bellerive. “They were hot on their power play to start and we kind of struggled. We weren’t shooting the puck enough. We simplified and started shooting it and it worked out for us.”
The Hurricanes had to dodge a bullet with 53 seconds left in regulation when they were tagged for a bench minor. But the hosts were able to make it to the end of regulation to secure one point and killed off the remainder of the penalty in OT.
The Canes goaltender’s performance wasn’t lost on the rest of the team.
“Stu,” said Hurricanes assistant coach Josh MacNevin, with a chuckle when asked what was particularly working for the Hurricanes Tuesday. “Stu was really good. Obviously we have some work to do in some spots. But the power play came along at the end when we needed and that was good. We worked, and that’s what we have to do.”
“He’s found his groove,” added Hurricanes captain Giorgio Estephan. “Any time you have a goalie that makes every save like that that keeps us in the game is definitely something special. Everyone knows he’s one of the best goalies in the league, if not the best one. We’re definitely lucky to have him and we have a good Dcorps in front of him, too, that he acknowledges more often than not. We just have a good back end out there and I think that’s what’ helping us in the last couple of games.”
The Hurricanes are back at the Enmax Centre Friday at 7 p.m. when the Brandon Wheat Kings come to town.