Winterahawks blow out Blazers with 4 goal 1st

The Portland Winterhawks leave no doubt in their Monday matinee, using a 20 6 shot advantage for a 4 goal 1st period on their way to a 7 1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers. After letting the league’s 2nd lowest ranked Seattle Thunderbirds hang around on Friday, leading to an overtime loss, Portland scored 4 goals in just over 10 minutes against the league’s lowest ranked Blazers.

They added on to extend to margin to 6 0 in the 3rd before Kamloops broke up the shutout. The Winterhawks outshot the Blazers for the game 51 24. And they didn’t exactly play at full speed the last 2 periods. Portland’s veteran top line of James Stefan, Gabe Klassen, and Josh Davies were too much, scoring 4 goals and ending up with 6 points.

16 year old Ryan Miller contributed a career high 4 points. Portland now has 5 straight games on the road, staring with a matchup with Kelowna on Wednesday. The weather and the Saturday postponement are a distraction for Portland that Kamloops didn’t have, as they made it in Sunday night with no issues and watched a Trail Blazers game.

But it was still the lowest ranked team in the league against the 5th ranked by points and the 3rd ranked by percentage. Portland had them overmatched from the start. An early power play goal set the tone, then two goals off Kamloops turnovers, all three goals coming from Portland’s oldest players.

Then finished off with a rebound goal. Felt like garbage time already. Portland got a fifth, again with their top line, and could have had more except for some good relief goaltending by Dylan Ernst. Kamloops had a good stretch in the last few minutes as Portland really took their foot off the pedal.

Pretty much a scrimmage. Kamloops broke the shutout, Portland got two to get up to seven. The power play got the first goal to set the tone, but it was the 1st period offensive onslaught that put the game away. Yes. Jack O’Brien didn’t play after being injured late in Friday’s game. If he misses Kelowna we can start to worry.

Credit for removing all doubt in this one early. They finish the weekend with 3 points out of 4 and one game postponed. And you’d expect Nate Danielson to make his Portland debut on Wednesday, ahead of the big doubleheader in Prince George on Friday and Saturday. It’s going to be a long rest of the season.

They’ll be underdogs in all but about two or three games the rest of the way. The worst win total in their history is 14 wins, and they have some work to get to that. Wednesday at Kelowna, 7pm PST Friday at Prince George, 7pm PST Saturday at Prince George, 6pm PST Wednesday 1/31 vs. Kelowna, 7pm PST Saturday 2/3 at Seattle, 6pm PST Wednesday 3/6 at Kamloops, 7pm PST.