Winterhawks rout Cougars, run winning streak to 17

PORTLAND — The Portland Winterhawks extended their franchise record winning streak to 17 Tuesday with a 5-1 win over the visiting Prince George Cougars in front of 4,724 fans at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.

The Hawks’ streak has been going for nearly six weeks, as Portland (43-12-2-3) has not lost since a shootout defeat in Victoria on Jan. 10, and has not lost in regulation since Jan. 4.

Prince George (25-30-3-5) opened the scoring with a power play goal 6:49 into the game from Todd Fiddler to take a 1-0 lead. The Hawks broke through with 11.9 seconds remaining in the period when Oliver Bjorkstrand scored with a man advantage to even the game going into the second.

It remained tied until just 4.4 seconds remained in the second, when Derrick Pouliot wired a shot past Cougars netminder Ty Edmonds to break the deadlock and make it 2-1 going into the second.

After scoring with 11.9 seconds to go in the first and 4.4 seconds to go in the second, the Hawks waited just 3:27 to score in the third, when Keegan Iverson collected a rebound off the end boards and put it in for a 3-1 lead. Portland struck again at the 6:13 mark on a 5-on-3 power play when Pouliot scored his second of the game on a blast from the point for a 4-1 advantage. Tyson Predinchuk added a goal at the 13:47 mark as Portland ran the lead to 5-1.

Corbin Boes was terrific in net for the Hawks, with 30 saves on 31 shots.

The Hawks were 3 for 7 on the power play and 5 for 6 on the penalty kill.