GAME RECAP
Winterhawks 4, Silvertips 0
Series: Portland leads 1-0. Game 2 at 5 p.m. today at the Rose Garden.
Key stat: Portland outshot Everett 19-3 in the first period and led 3-0
Player of the game: Goalie Mac Carruth made 32 saves for the shutout.
PORTLAND — First games don’t win playoff series, and first periods don’t win hockey games.
But the Portland Winterhawks certainly took an emphatic first step in their 2011 Western Hockey League playoff trek on Saturday.
GAME RECAP
Winterhawks 4, Silvertips 0
Series: Portland leads 1-0. Game 2 at 5 p.m. today at the Rose Garden.
Key stat: Portland outshot Everett 19-3 in the first period and led 3-0
Player of the game: Goalie Mac Carruth made 32 saves for the shutout.
Scoring three goals in the first eight minutes, the regular-season Western Conference champions got a quick jump on the eighth-seeded Everett Silvertips. Goalie Mac Carruth then announced his return to form, making most of his 32 saves in the second half of the 4-0 victory.
The win in front of 8,363 fans at the Rose Garden was worth celebrating as a good start to this playoff season — and as a nice way to put to rest the memory of last season, when the Winterhawks lost all six of their home playoff games.
They can start a better trend today, when Game 2 is played at 5 p.m. at the Rose Garden.
“Right from the get-go, we came out flying. We laid bodies out. We put pucks on net,” said Riley Boychuk, whose physical presence helped Portland establish early momentum.
His work was rewarded. Boychuk scored the first goal on a five-on-three power play, then assisted moments later on Brendan Leipsic’s goal after Taylor Peters won an offensive zone faceoff.
“It felt great. I mean, to get the first goal of the playoffs, get the boys going here,” Boychuk said. “Get a quick start, it’s what we want.”
When Ryan Johansen scored on a short-handed breakaway 8:07 into the game it was 3-0 Portland and the shots-on-goal chart read 11-1 Winterhawks.
“I thought we really did a good job of getting some hits and putting some pressure on,” Portland coach Mike Johnston said. “I was pleased with all our lines there.”
Everett eventually closed the shot gap, gaining a bit of momentum from a pair of Portland penalties midway through the second period.
But after going the first 30 minutes with almost nothing to do, Carruth was busy and big the rest of the way. The Winterhawks No. 1 goalie had missed a stretch of games late in the season with two injuries, but was sharp on Saturday.
“There were a couple of scrums there where we were kind of scrambling and I was lucky enough to get a glove or a pad on it,” Carruth said.
Johnston praised Carruth’s focus after seeing almost no pucks in the first half of the game.
“When he got some action I thought he was good,” Johnston said. “He controlled his rebounds, and was good and quick on loose pucks around the net.”
The Silvertips kept at it in the third period, testing Carruth from close range a couple of times.
“It’s good to start off on the right foot,” Carruth said of the shutout, smiling. “Coming back from the injury is pretty big for me, and the confidence is up there.”
Brad Ross took away any chance for late suspense when he scored a rebound goal with 7:32 left in the game. A nice move by Johansen set up Nino Niederreiter for a shot that was cleared off the goal line, but not clear of Ross’ stick.
Johnston said this year is not last year, and that he hadn’t thought about the home playoff losing streak until it was mentioned to him after the game.
“I don’t care where we win playoff games,” the coach said. “Whether it’s here or on the road, we’ve got to win a lot of them.”
