If the Portland Winterhawks are going to stave off elimination on Sunday, they will likely need to rediscover their scoring touch.
Since scoring seven goals to win Game 3 of their Western Hockey League series with the Kelowna Rockets, the Winterhawks have managed only three goals in almost seven periods of hockey.
Rockets goalie Jackson Whistle has turned into a wall that doesn’t produce many rebounds.
The Winterhawks must win Game 6, which goes at 5 p.m. in Moda Center, or their dream of a fifth consecutive trip to the WHL finals will end. If Portland prevails on Sunday, the Western Conference champion will be determined on Tuesday in Kelowna.
All three Rockets wins in the series have come by one goal. Friday’s 2-1 overtime win was by far the most dramatic of those as Kelowna peppered Portland goalie Adin Hill in overtime. Hill was spectacular, making 19 saves and getting a couple of helpful bounces from goal posts in the overtime period.
Portland was the better team for significant stretches of the first two periods on Friday, but couldn’t beat Whistle until Nic Petan’s low shot through traffic went unseen by the Kelowna goalie to tie that game with just more than three minutes left in regulation.
But Kelowna, desperate not to leave home at risk of losing the series on Sunday, dominated the overtime and eventually earned the win on Tyson Ballie’s first goal of the series.
The Rockets were without center Rourke Chartier for the second consecutive game on Friday because of an upper body injury. They lost forward Tyrell Goulbourne to an injury during Friday’s game. Forward Justin Kirkland returned to the lineup but was used sparingly on Friday.
But Leon Draisaitl, the No. 3 pick in last summer’s NHL Draft who played in 37 games this season with the Edmonton Oilers, logged a lot of ice time on Friday and played his best game in this series. He nearly ended the game early in overtime and was key on faceoffs all game for the Rockets.
Since going 4 for 8 on the power play in Game 3 — when the Rockets showed frustration as a close game got away from them — Portland is 0 for 7 with a man advantage. In Game 5 on Friday, the Winterhawks had only one power play and the Rockets were 0 for 2.
Petan — who has points in all 16 playoff games this season — will set a WHL record for playoff games played with his 88th on Sunday. If the Winterhawks don’t win, it figures to be the last for the Winnipeg Jets prospect.
