EDMONTON, Alberta — Edgars Kulda’s goal with 6:47 remaining in the third period was the winner as the Edmonton Oil Kings bounced back from an early 2-0 loss to remain in the running in the Western Hockey League championships, defeating the defending champion Portland Winterhawks 3-2 on Tuesday night.
Henrik Samuelsson and Luke Bertolucci also scored for the Oil Kings, who are now 9-0 on home ice in the playoffs to cut Portland’s series lead to 2-1.
Chase De Leo and Mathew Dumba responded for the Winterhawks, who suffered just their fourth loss in their last 46 games, a string of success running all the way back to Jan. 11.
As has been the case in every game in the series, the Winterhawks came out flying to grab an early lead in the game, scoring twice in less than a minute to go up 2-0 on their first three shots before the game was even four minutes old.
Portland struck 2:38 into the first period as a big bounce off the boards came out front to De Leo and he spun and beat Edmonton goalie Tristan Jarry with a shot to the top corner for his 10th goal off the playoffs.
Just 52 seconds later it was 2-0 Portland, as Brendan Leipsic fed a pass to defender Dumba in the slot and the Minnesota Wild draft pick made the most of the opportunity.
Edmonton allowed goals in the first three minutes of the first two games of the series as well, and was outscored by a combined 5-0 in the first periods of its opening two losses of the series in Portland.
Despite the early deficit, the Oil Kings fought back to outshoot the Hawks 19-10 in the opening frame, however Portland goalie Corbin Boes stood his ground.
Edmonton got on the board four minutes into the second period with a power play goal as Curtis Lazar made a perfect pass across to Samuelsson at the side of the net and the Phoenix Coyotes prospect sent his fifth of the playoffs into a wide-open net to cut the lead to 2-1.
The Oil Kings pulled even with nine minutes remaining in the second period as Bertolucci picked up a loose puck and went in on a breakaway, only to be pushed down from behind by Dumba. However, Bertolucci got right back on his feet and was able to make a nifty move to freeze Boes on the deke for his sixth of the post-season.
It appeared the Oil Kings had taken the lead just over a minute later on a mad scramble in front of the Portland goal, however, a lengthy review concluded that Samuelsson had kicked the puck into the net.
Jarry made several key saves during the first half of the third period to keep it a tied game, none bigger than an early glove save on Taylor Leier.
Edmonton took their first lead of the entire series with just under seven minutes left in the third as Mitch Moroz sent a puck in front and Kulda was able to redirect it into the net to put the Oil Kings up 3-2.
Portland furiously tried to knot the game back up in the late stages and had a great chance in the dying seconds, but Dumba shot a puck over the net. Jarry faced 15 shots in the third and 37 in the game.
Game 4 of the WHL Finals takes place on Wednesday, also in Edmonton.
