The Winterhawks’ domination of the Everett Silvertips continued Friday with an 11-4 win that means Portland can finish off the Western Hockey League playoff series on Saturday.
Portland leads the best-of-7 series 3-1 after a second consecutive win at Comcast Arena in Everett.
Game 5 is at 7 p.m. Saturday at Veterans’ Memorial Coliseum in Portland. A win would advance the Winterhawks to the second round.
It didn’t take long Friday for Portland to take command. The Winterhawks scored four goals over a six-minute span in the first period and led 5-1 after the first 20 minutes.
Ty Rattie, who finished with three goals and two assists, opened the scoring when he threw the puck to the crease from a sharp angle and had it bounce in off goalie Austin Lutz.
Brendan Leipsic scored twice within 1:55 — sandwiching a Chase De Leo goal — to make it 4-0 less than 14 minutes into the game.
It is the first time in franchise history that Portland has scored seven or more goals in consecutive road playoff games. It was the first time since 1987 the Winterhawks have scored 10 goals in a playoff game.
Leipsic had three assists as he and Rattie each had a five-point night. Tyler Wotherspoon had two goals and two assists.
Portland was 3 for 7 on the power play, including two goals from an early 5-on-3 opportunity.
Joey Baker, Taylor Leier and Josh Hanson also scored for Portland.
