By PAUL DANZER
Columbian staff writer
PORTLAND – The final turn in a topsy-turvy Western Hockey League championship series came in the second period of the final game.
And turnovers were the story, in a heartbreaking final twist to the Portland Winterhawks season.
Edmonton’s Oil Kings scored four goals in the second period and beat the Winterhawks 4-2 as 10,095 fans watched at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Edmonton beat Portland in Game 7 of the WHL Finals for the second time in three seasons.
Edmonton won four of the final five games of the series – the only Portland win a remarkable rally and overtime win in Game 6 on Sunday.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored early, Brendan Leipsic late, but the Oil Kings rode a huge second period to the decisive victory.
Thus ended a season that saw Portland go on a remarkable run of 42 wins in 45 games before Edmonton shut down the Winterhawks’ high-flying forwards.
“It’s too bad we couldn’t do it for our fans,” Winterhawks captain Taylor Leier said. “They were incredibly excited, the whole city was too. What can you do? We tried our best. We got the job done last night but we couldn’t come back again tonight.”
Portland was up 1-0 after the first period and started the second with a power play. But Edmonton’s penalty kill changed the game, scoring once short-handed and again seconds after a Portland advantage expired.
Mitch Moroz scored the first Edmonton goal on a strong move to the front of the net, tying the game 3:50 into the second. A Portland power play then turned into a launch pad for the Oil Kings. Curtis Lazar put the visitors ahead on an odd-man rush 9:02 into the second. Just 40 seconds later and just seconds after the Winterhawks power-play expired, Reid Petryk made it 3-1 at the end of another counter-attack from the Oil Kings.
The fourth goal started with Portland’s Alex Schoenborn losing the puck at the attacking blue line. Winterhawks defenseman Matt Dumba fell at center ice, creating another odd-man rush. This time Mads Eller made it count and it was 4-1.
“It seemed like it was a sequence of odd things happening,” Winterhawks coach Mike Johnston said.
The desperate Hawks had a couple good scoring chances early in the third, including a goal-mouth pileup that was reviewed with 12:58 left. Leipsic’s power-play goal with the Hawks using six skaters made it 4-2 with 3:22 left. And with goalie Brendan Burke on the bench for a sixth skater, Portland made Oil Kings goalie Tristan Jarry work over the final few minutes. But the home team could not get the bounce it needed to force a dramatic finish.
“Coming from behind last night was amazing, but doing it two nights in a row? We couldn’t put ourselves in that position after this hard of a series with seven games in 10 nights,” Johnston said.
Ultimately, the difference was Edmonton’s ability to shut down Portland’s skilled, high-scoring forwards. Bjorkstrand’s only goal of the series came on Monday. Leipsic scored one goal in Game 2 and the late power-play goal on Monday. That was the total goal production for the players that led Portland to the top of the league in scoring in the regular season and in the playoffs – before they met Edmonton. Taylor Leier and Nic Petan did not score a goal in the series, though Petan did have seven assists over the seven games.
“We were working hard, but we weren’t working the right way,” Petan said of Monday’s performance. “We were turning over pucks, and whenever that happens against this team, we’re giving up opportunities.”
Bjorkstrand’s first goal of the championship series put Portland ahead 1-0 4:42 into the first period. Bjorkstrand scored from the right circle on an up-ice rush after the Hawks swept away a juicy rebound at the other end of the ice. The top scorer in the WHL playoffs, Bjorkstrand was bottled up by Edmonton’s top defensemen and had seen few transition chances during the first six games.
Edmonton had a goal disallowed while on the first power play of the game. The puck ended up in the net after a mad scramble in front of Burke, but after a long video review the goals was waved off.
That didn’t deter the Oil Kings, who became the first visiting team to win a Game 7 in the WHL finals.
“It’s disappointing,” Johnston said after emerging from a tearful locker room. “You work from training camp. You go all season, you battle your way and you’re in Game 7of a championship series. And for a lot of our guys their junior career is finishing.
“You’re that close to a championship and you work so hard for it. You know it was right there and it was just stolen away from us.”
This was the fourth time the Winterhawks have played a Game 7 in the WHL Finals. Portland has lost all four, and is 3-9 in 12 trips to the WHL championship series. This was the first time in league history that a visiting team won Game 7 in the league finals.
Edmonton will open the Memorial Cup tournament in London, Ontario, on Saturday against Guelph of the Ontario Hockey League. Host London plays the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League Champion on Friday to begin round-robin play at the tournament featuring the champions of the three Canadian Hockey League and the host Knights. Val-d’Or and Baie-Comeau play Game 7 of the QMJHL finals on Tuesday.
