Tuesday’s 6-5 win in Kennewick was significant in several ways for the Portland Winterhawks.
It ended an 11-game losing streak to the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center. It was the fourth win in a stretch of five road games.
And it allowed the Winterhawks to edge three points in front of Spokane in the race for the top spot in the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League. Both Portland and Spokane have nine games remaining, including the one head-to-head meeting on the final day of the regular season in Portland.
Winterhawks coach and general manager Mike Johnston said it was significant to win in the final visit to the Tri-Cities this season in case the teams clash in the playoffs. An extended losing streak in a building can play on a team’s confidence level, Johnston said.
The five-game road trip spanned eight days, and included two back-to-backs. Interestingly, Johnston said the 2-0 loss at Everett might have been the best game of the week for his team.
Not only was the travel a challenge, but injuries to forwards Riley Boychuk and Ty Rattie shortened the bench. On Thursday, Johnston described the status of both players as day-to-day. Defenseman William Wren and goalie Keith Hamilton also missed time to injury during the trip.
“Last week was a hard week,” Johnston said.
This weekend also will challenge the team’s depth. After hosting Seattle for a sold-out game today at the Rose Garden, Portland travels to Vancouver, B.C., on Saturday and to Chilliwack on Sunday.
In the Tuesday win at Tri-Cities, Nino Niederreiter and Sven Bartschi each reached the 30-goal mark on the season. Niederreiter had two goals and two assists in the game. Bartschi had a goal and three assists.
Johnston said Bartschi has been a solid player throughout his rookie season in the WHL. If he experienced any emotional or physical fatigue being so far from home in Sweden since August, he appears to have fought through it.
Johnston noted that Bartschi looked “fresh and energized” over the last week.
• Tonight’s game can be seen on FSN (Comcast Cable Channel 34). The telecast is expected to start at about 7:20 p.m.
Jags on the ropes
The River City Jaguars season figures to end as soon as tonight.
With a win tonight in Vancouver, the top-seeded Seattle Totems can complete a sweep of the best-of-5 first-round Northern Pacific Hockey League playoff series. Seattle won the first two games by a combined score of 19-1.
Today’s game starts at 8 p.m. at Mountain View Ice Arena. Games 4 and 5, if needed would be at 8 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday in Vancouver.
Jaguars coach Ross Gale said the start of the game was key in the two games at Seattle.
The Jags scored early in Game 1, and played with confidence in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss. On Wednesday, the Totems took advantage of two early power plays, and the Jaguars were never in it.
The key to having a chance tonight, Gale said, will be sticking to the game plan.
“We have a specific forecheck we want to use and a plan for how we want to play in the defensive zone. If we stick to those and we stay disciplined, we will give ourselves a chance to compete,” Gale said.
Gale said his young team was “pretty frustrated” following Wednesday’s whitewash. The coach said he is interested to see how his team’s emotion and focus is now that the Jaguars must win to extend their season.
