PORTLAND —The Portland Winterhawks came out firing and never looked back en route to a comfortable 5-1 victory to take a 2-0 series lead in their first-round playoff series against the Victoria Royals.
Portland took early control with three goals in the first period, including two from James Stefan. The Edmonton Oilers prospect nabbed his first at 4:37 on the power play with a one-timer off a Gabe Klassen seam pass. Luca Cagnoni made it 2-0 Hawks at 11:25 with his third of the playoffs, picking the top corner from the top of the right circle with another assist from Klassen. Stefan bookended the period with another goal, similarly scoring from the left dot on a one-timer, this time set up by Carter Sotheran in the final minute of the frame.
Former Winterhawk Dawson Pasternak brought the Royals into the game with a goal 1:34 into the second period, but the Winterhawks responded through Josh Davies’ first career playoff goal at 13:59. Carrying a 4-1 lead into the third, Portland pressured and added another to its tally when Nate Danielson converted a Jack O’Brien feed in the dead slot just 1:03 into the stanza.
Jan Špunar picked up his second win in as many nights with 19 saves on 20 shots, while Braden Holt turned in a 28-save effort for Victoria.
The series now shifts to Victoria for Game 3 on Tuesday and Game 4 on Wednesday, as well as a potential Game 5 (if necessary) on Friday.
