After a relatively quiet game–only 2 points–on Friday night, Logan Stankoven made his presence known on Saturday, getting a point on all 5 goals, as the Kamloops Blazers beat the Portland Winterhawks 5-0 to take a 2-0 lead in their 2nd round best-of-7.
After going down midway through the 1st period, the Winterhawks held close for awhile. But for the second night in a row, the Blazers got separation near the end of the 2nd, and Portland never looked to have the firepower to get back in it.
The Winterhawks regroup before their two games at home Wednesday and Thursday.
| 11:44 KAM (pp) Caedan Bankier (Olen Zellweger, Logan Stankoven) 0-1 | A power play wrist shot from the top of the left circle makes it through. Daylan Kuefler in front was screening Jan Špunar. |
| 37:35 KAM Olen Zellweger (Matthew Seminoff, Logan Stankoven) 0-2 | Stankoven and Seminoff won puck battles along the boards, then Seminoff backhanded a centering pass to a wide open Zellweger. |
| 39:05 KAM (pp) Logan Stankoven (Caedan Bankier, Matthew Seminoff) 0-3 | A nifty stickhandling play down the middle by Bankier that faked Špunar out of position, then he passed it to an open Stankoven, who put it past Marek Alscher trying to block the net. |
| 47:53 KAM Logan Stankoven (Caedan Bankier) 0-4 | Off a faceoff win by Bankier, Stankoven puts it in through traffic from the top of the left circle. |
| 57:35 KAM (pp) Daylan Kuefler (Logan Stankoven, Kyle Masters) 0-5 | Kuefler from the top of the crease tipped home Stankoven’s from the right wing. |
| Lead | Time |
|---|---|
| Portland leads by 2+ | 0:00 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 0:00 |
| Tied | 11:44 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 25:51 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 22:25 |
Pregame: Kamloops the big favorite to go up 2-0.
1st period: The Blazers, after some threatening, broke through with the power play goal midway. Winterhawks evened up the play a little after the goal.
2nd period: Portland hung on for awhile, and were playing well in the middle of the period. But the last 5 minutes were decisive, with two big shifts giving Kamloops momentum, and then Zellweger and Stankoven got the two big goals to end the period at 3-0.
3rd period: After giving up two goals in garbage time on Friday, the Blazers were ruthless in the 3rd on Saturday, getting two goals while grinding Portland down.
Won on offense, defense, or special teams: All three areas, but Kamloops went 3 for 4 on the power play.
Best team won?: By a lot.
Injuries/suspensions: The league overruled the automatic suspension to Shea Van Olm for a one-man fight on Friday, which didn’t have much effect.
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Logan Stankoven | KAM | 2 goals, 3 assists | 7 points in 2 games now. Portland held him down Friday but not Saturday. |
| Caedan Bankier | KAM | 1 goal, 2 assists | Opening goal and two primary assists. |
| Dylan Ernst | KAM | 29 saves-29 shots | Good when he needed to be. |
| Olen Zellweger | KAM | 1 goal, 1 assist | Has completely turned them around since being acquired. |
| Matthew Seminoff | KAM | 2 assists | The third man with Stankoven and Bankier. A big assist on Zellweger’s goal. 5-game point streak. |
| Daylan Kuefler | KAM | 1 goal | A tip goal and gave Portland’s defensemen a lot of trouble in front. |
| Kyle Masters | KAM | 1 assist | |
| Ryan Hofer | KAM | He had Demek again used a big size advantage, although his 5-game point streak was snapped. | |
| Jakub Demek | KAM | ||
| Jan Špunar | POR | 37 saves-42 shots | He’s kept it as close as it’s been. Has been a lot better than his numbers. |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Emmitt Finnie | KAM | 15-game point streak snapped. |
| Winterhawks | Blazers | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 44-23-5-3 | 54-13-4-3 |
| Goal difference | +25 | +141 |
| Goals/game | 3.5 | 4.7 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.2 | 2.8 |
| Power play | 24.8% | 30.0% |
| Penalty kill | 81.9% | 76.6% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 4.4 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Outshooting opponents | 51-22-2 | 61-12-1 |
| After 1 period | 28-20-27 | 47-14-13 |
| After 2 periods | 32-28-15 | 41-17-16 |
| Score, last 10 games | 29-33 | 48-30 |
| Score, last 20 games | 57-72 | 109-53 |
Portland Winterhawks
None of this is a surprise. The first two games have gone according to form. They’ll hope that some rest and home ice advantage will make a positive difference on Wednesday.
The question for the moment will be if the Winterhawks will get a lead in the series.
Kamloops Blazers
With Seattle also winning their first two, a Kamloops-Seattle conference final looks like it’s in the cards.
Wednesday vs. Kamloops, 7pm (Game 3)
Thursday vs. Kamloops, 7pm (Game 4)
Saturday at Kamloops, 7pm (Game 5 if necessary)
