PORTLAND — The Portland Winterhawks entered Wednesday with a chance to get a stranglehold on the Western Conference Finals.
But the Kelowna Rockets had other ideas, claiming a second-period lead and putting the clamps on Portland in the third for a 3-2 win at the Moda Center that evens the best-of-7 series at 2-2.
Game 5 is at 7:05 p.m. Friday at Kelowna. Game 6 will be at 5 p.m. on Sunday at the Moda Center.
Portland outshot Kelowna 42-28, but Rockets goalie Jackson Whistle was up to the challenge and the Winterhawks left the ice feeling they did not play with the needed focus and desperation.
“Tonight we just didn’t have enough urgency,” Winterhawks captain Nic Petan said. “We didn’t push hard enough. Our passing wasn’t there. You could say it was the (soft) ice, but both teams were playing on it.”
It wasn’t so much the surface as the opponent that disrupted Portland’s efforts to rally down a goal in the third period. In an effort similar to Game 1, the Rockets checking game limited Portland’s opportunities to hurry up the ice and kept the Winterhawks from establishing play in the offensive zone except for two power plays for Portland in the period.
“Today was one of the biggest periods so far this year,” Kelowna’s Leon Draisaitl said. “We all came together. That was a real solid third period.”
If Kelowna entered the building desperate to answer Tuesday’s 7-3 Portland win, its sense of urgency increased when Chase De Leo put Portland ahead 1:12 into the game.
For the first time in the series, the Rockets scored the second goal. After Kelowna forced a Portland turnover at center ice, Nick Merkley broke into the zone and fed Draisaitl in front to tie it 1-1 at 7:50 of the first period.
The first period also featured two short-handed breakaway chances for Tyrell Goulborne. He missed wide on the first and Hill made a pad save on the second.
Kelowna took its first two-goal lead of the series – and only its second lead of the series — with second-period goals from Chance Braid and Tyrell Goulbourne. Goulborne’s power-play goal 9:16 into the period made it 3-1 Rockets.
The Winterhawks cut the margin to 3-2 three minutes later. Adam Henry stepped up to intercept a clearing pass and his quick shot deflected off of Petan in front and squirted through goalie Jackson Whistle. Portland put Whistle to the test with some extended attack zone possession late in the period. Oliver Bjorkstrand just missed the corner on a power-play rush, and Dominic Turgeon hit the crossbar from the high slot with 1:30 left in the period.
“We can’t just give up goals and then decide that we’re going to turn a switch on and decide to play,” Portland coach Jamie Kompon said. “It’s got to be a 60-minute effort.”
Kelowna was without two key NHL-drafted forwards. Justin Kirkland missed his second consecutive game with an undisclosed illness and Rourke Chartier was scratched with an upper body injury.
Gallacher buys Swiss club — Avenir Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Winterhawks, has bought a majority interest in the Kloten Flyers of Switzerland’s National League A, the country’s top pro hockey league. Founded in 1934, the Flyers are one of the oldest European pro hockey teams. Avenir chairman Bill Gallacher, the Calgary businessman who bought the Winterhawks in 2008, has previously expressed interest in owning an NHL team.
