Winterhawks win fifth in a row, beat Spokane 3-2

SPOKANE — Luca Cagnoni scored twice in his 200th Western Hockey League game to help the Portland Winterhawks hold off the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 on Tuesday night.

Portland (44-15-2-1, 91 points) has won five consecutive games.

Cagnoni, a San Jose Sharks prospect, scored both his goals in the first period.

His first was 3:06 into the game with a wrister into the low-glove corner.

The second goal was just past the 16-minute mark on a 2-on-1 with James Stefan, who fed Cagnoni a perfect pass for a breakaway goal and a 2-0 lead.

Five minutes into the second period, Stefan nabbed his own goal — which would prove to be the deciding tally — with a deflection of Tyson Jugnauth’s shot from the left circle.

The Hawks held steady with a 3-0 lead for much of the second peroid, but Conner Roulette broke the shutout bid at 14:24 to send the teams to the third separated by two goals.

Spokane showed life in the third with 12 shots to Portland’s six, but Jan Špunar remained solid until Berkly Catton’s shorthanded strike in the waning minutes of play.

Špunar stopped a total of 25 of 27 shots for his own fifth straight win while Spokane’s Cooper Michaluk turned aside 37 of 40 in the Chiefs’ loss.

UP NEXT

The Winterhawks host Tri-City on Friday.

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WINTERHAWKS 3, CHIEFS 2

Portland 2 1 0 — 3

Spokane 01 1 — 2

First Period — 1, Portland, Cagnoni 14 (Buttazzoni, Zakreski) 3:06; 2, Portland, Cagnoni 15 (Stefan) 16:10.

Second Period — 3, Portland, Stefan 46 (Jugnauth, Sotheran) 5:34; 4, Spokane, Roulette 41 (unassisted) 14:24.

Third Period — 5, Spokane, Catton 50 (Van Olm) 18:11 (sh).

Shots on Goal — Portland 19-15-6—40; Spokane 4-11-12—27.

Power play opportunities — Portland 0 of 5; Spokane 0 of 3.

Goalies — Portland, Špunar (27 shots-25 saves). Spokane, Michaluk (40-37).

A — 3,806