Six different players scored goals on Wednesday as the Portland Winterhawks finished off a four-game sweep of the Vancouver Giants with a 6-1 win at Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver, B.C.
The Winterhawks advance to the second round of the Western Hockey League playoffs. Their opponent will be known after other three Western Conference first-round series are completed.
If both Victoria and Kelowna win series in which each has three wins so far, Portland will face Victoria in the next round.
This is the fifth year in a row the Winterhawks have won their first-round playoff series, and the third time in four seasons that they opened the playoffs with a first-round sweep.
Wednesday’s game was pretty much decided when Portland scored three goals in a 56-second span late in the first period.
It started with a power-play goal 16:09 into the game from Brendan Leipsic, his fifth goal of the series. Adam de Champlain scored his first playoff goal 32 seconds later, and at 17:05 of the first period Alex Schoenborn made it 3-0 and Vancouver coach Don Hay replaced starting goalie Payton Lee with Jared Rathjen.
A power-play goal midway through the second period gave the Giants a bit of life, as Carter Popoff registered his first goal of the series.
But four minutes later, Oliver Bjorkstrand’s fourth goal of the series, on the power play, restored a three-goal lead for the Winterhawks. With an assist on that goal, Derrick Pouliot tied Glen Wesley at 47 points for the franchise lead in career playoff points by a defenseman.
Keegan Iverson then scored with a spin-around shot after an interception early in the third period, and Chase De Leo finished the scoring with just under nine minutes left.
Winterhawks goalie Brendan Burke played another strong game, stopping 32 of 33 shots.
Eleven Winterhawks had points in the game, led by Bjorkstrand’s three points from a goal and two assists. Leipsic and Iverson each had an assist to go with his goal.
Portland has won 11 consecutive games stretching back to the end of the regular season, and won 32 of its last 33 games.
