Winterhawks take opener, 7-2 over Chiefs
Ty Rattie and Mac Carruth made history as the Portland Winterhawks opened their second round series with a 7-2 win in Game 1 Friday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in front of 6,172 fans.
With the win goaltender Mac Carruth has tied the WHL career record with his 38th playoff win, pulling him even with Cam Ward, who set the record with the Red Deer Rebels from 2001-04.
In addition, Rattie registered a hat trick in the win with three goals in the third period, which gave him 72 career playoff points to pass Randy Heath for the franchise’s career mark for playoff scoring.
The Hawks struck first when Taylor Leier collected a loose puck in the crease and put it past Spokane netminder Eric Williams 5:46 in the first to give Portland a 1-0 lead. Spokane tied it at 1-1 on a goal by Mike Aviani at the 9:04 mark, which remained the score going into the second.
Portland regained the lead 4:05 into the second when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored to make it 2-1. The Chiefs once again evened it when Todd Fiddler struck for a shorthanded goal at the 7:23 mark of the second. Bjorkstrand gave the Hawks a 3-2 advantage with his second of the game at the 14:44 mark, followed later in the frame by Derrick Pouliot scoring a highlight reel goal on an end-to-end rush to give Portland a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.
From there Ty Rattie took over in the third period, scoring three straight goals to give the Hawks a 7-2 lead. He opened the scoring 47 seconds into the period with a power play goal, followed by him banging one in from the doorstep at the 5:28 mark to make it 6-2. He completed the hat trick at the 16:23 mark to make it 7-2, and in doing so took sole possession of the franchise record for career playoff points with 72.
Carruth earned the win net with 38 saves on 40 shots. Eric Williams took the loss for Spokane with seven goals allowed on 39 shots.
The Hawks were 2-8 on the power play and a perfect 3-3 on the penalty kill.
Game 2 of the series is tomorrow night at 7 p.m. at the Rose Garden.
