The Portland Winterhawks (5-3-0-1) earned a 4-1 win over the visiting Tri-City Americans (4-7-0-1) Wednesday at the Moda Center in front of 5,152 fans.
The Hawks carried the play through much of the first period and opened the scoring 3:31 into the game when Nic Petan forced a turnover in the Americans’ zone and fired a shot that was stopped by netminder Eric Comrie, but Brendan Leipsic was right there and put in the rebound to make it 1-0. It was the lone goal in a period in which Portland outshot Tri-Cities 17-6.
After a scoreless second period, the Hawks made it 2-0 early in the third when Adam Rossignol went hard to the net and banged in a rebound for his second goal of the season. Tri-Cities got on the board at the 8:27 mark when Philip Tot scored on a breakaway to bring the Americans within one, 2-1.
It remained a one-goal game until the 15:37 mark when Presten Kopeck scored to give the Hawks a 3-1 advantage, then Oliver Bjorkstrand scored into an empty net with just over a minute remaining to make it a 4-1 final.