Malc
04-11-2011, 01:40 PM
By Doyle Potenteau
Ryan Johansen picked a fine time to score his first career hat trick. A fine time for the Portland Winterhawks, that is.
After being held in check on Thursday night, Portland‘s star forward came to life on Sunday evening, scoring three times and guiding the Winterhawks to a 6-3 victory over the Kelowna Rockets at The Rose Garden. His first two goals came late in the second period, a key frame that saw Portland score four times and build offensive momentum that Kelowna couldn‘t stop.
"They are supposed to be like that (a free-flowing, offensive team)," said Rockets coach Ryan Huska, whose team stunned Portland 5-1 in Thursday‘s series opener, but gave up 52 shots on Sunday night. "They have a very good team, and I think they found a little bit more room in the neutral zone than we wanted to give them... When you give room to a very good, offensive team that skates well and can moves pucks that well, then you‘re asking for trouble."
"We‘re a shot team and we racked up a lot of shots," said Portland general manager and head coach Mike Johnston. "I thought we got to (Kelowna‘s) crease pretty good, and we still continued to play a physical game.
"In the second period, I thought we took momentum away from them. But we did the other night, too. When you really look at (Game 1), the first period was a seesaw game, back and forth, and the second period was all ours. In games throughout the season, we‘ve been good in the second and third periods. You look at our record and its outstanding in the second and third periods. So we believe that those are our periods."
Ty Rattie, Craig Cunningham and defenceman Joe Morrow also scored for Portland, which trailed 1-0 after the first period, but led 4-2 after 40 minutes. Rattie also had two assists, as did big left-winger Riley Boychuk for Portland.
Shane McColgan, Jessey Astles and Colton Sissons, with a power-play goal in the third period, replied for Kelowna, which will play host to Games 3 and 4 this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Adam Brown made 46 saves for Kelowna, while Mac Carruth turned aside 25 shots for Portland.
While Sunday‘s loss was certainly stinging, the upside for Kelowna is that they return home after a split in Portland.
"If you start on the road, you always want to get at least a split, and that‘s something we were able to accomplish," said Huska. "It would have been nice to come home with two (wins), but our guys should feel good about their work ethic when we were down here.
"When we get our game going at home, we need to get that same sort of style with just a few adjustments, here and there."
One adjustment would be tighter checking on Johansen. For if the Rockets are to win, they can‘t allow him to blitz Kelowna with shots.
Johansen‘s first goal came at 15:29 of the second, as he batted home a saucer pass in the slot on a two-on-one rush to make it 3-2. Four minutes later, while charging to the slot, he got credit for a goal on a centering pass that appeared to bounce in off the stick of Rockets defenceman Tyson Barrie. His third, he all but ended the game with a power-play marker at 18:23, a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle that squeezed past Brown.
Told in the post-game media scrum that it‘s hard to believe that one of Team Canada‘s world-junior stars had never scored a hat trick before, Johansen said he couldn‘t believe it either.
"Me too," Johansen answered with a laugh. "Nino (Niederreiter) and (Brad) Ross have been setting me up for the last two years, and it seems like there was a little bit of a curse on me; (the third goal) wouldn‘t go in. But it‘s definitely nice to see."
Asked if Sunday‘s contest was a must-win scenario, Johansen said no.
"I wouldn‘t say must-win, but you don‘t want to go down two games to none, especially when you‘re at home," said the 6-foot-3 centre from Port Moody who previously played one season with the BCHL‘s Penticton Vees. "This one definitely feels really good; it was a great win for us.
"In the intermission after the first period, we really had to keep our composure... there was a little bit of frustration. We had to handle the moment and get out there and play and stick to our game plan, and we did."
ICE CHIPS: Game scratches - Kelowna: LW Zach Franko (head), C Gal Koren, RW Jason Siebert (wrist), C Andreas Stene and C Max Adolph (head). Portland: D Josh Hanson, D Brett Ponich (knee), C Chase De Leo, LW Oliver Gabriel (shoulder), LW Brad Ross (suspension), LW Taylor Leier and C Jason Trott.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=347781
Ryan Johansen picked a fine time to score his first career hat trick. A fine time for the Portland Winterhawks, that is.
After being held in check on Thursday night, Portland‘s star forward came to life on Sunday evening, scoring three times and guiding the Winterhawks to a 6-3 victory over the Kelowna Rockets at The Rose Garden. His first two goals came late in the second period, a key frame that saw Portland score four times and build offensive momentum that Kelowna couldn‘t stop.
"They are supposed to be like that (a free-flowing, offensive team)," said Rockets coach Ryan Huska, whose team stunned Portland 5-1 in Thursday‘s series opener, but gave up 52 shots on Sunday night. "They have a very good team, and I think they found a little bit more room in the neutral zone than we wanted to give them... When you give room to a very good, offensive team that skates well and can moves pucks that well, then you‘re asking for trouble."
"We‘re a shot team and we racked up a lot of shots," said Portland general manager and head coach Mike Johnston. "I thought we got to (Kelowna‘s) crease pretty good, and we still continued to play a physical game.
"In the second period, I thought we took momentum away from them. But we did the other night, too. When you really look at (Game 1), the first period was a seesaw game, back and forth, and the second period was all ours. In games throughout the season, we‘ve been good in the second and third periods. You look at our record and its outstanding in the second and third periods. So we believe that those are our periods."
Ty Rattie, Craig Cunningham and defenceman Joe Morrow also scored for Portland, which trailed 1-0 after the first period, but led 4-2 after 40 minutes. Rattie also had two assists, as did big left-winger Riley Boychuk for Portland.
Shane McColgan, Jessey Astles and Colton Sissons, with a power-play goal in the third period, replied for Kelowna, which will play host to Games 3 and 4 this Tuesday and Wednesday.
Adam Brown made 46 saves for Kelowna, while Mac Carruth turned aside 25 shots for Portland.
While Sunday‘s loss was certainly stinging, the upside for Kelowna is that they return home after a split in Portland.
"If you start on the road, you always want to get at least a split, and that‘s something we were able to accomplish," said Huska. "It would have been nice to come home with two (wins), but our guys should feel good about their work ethic when we were down here.
"When we get our game going at home, we need to get that same sort of style with just a few adjustments, here and there."
One adjustment would be tighter checking on Johansen. For if the Rockets are to win, they can‘t allow him to blitz Kelowna with shots.
Johansen‘s first goal came at 15:29 of the second, as he batted home a saucer pass in the slot on a two-on-one rush to make it 3-2. Four minutes later, while charging to the slot, he got credit for a goal on a centering pass that appeared to bounce in off the stick of Rockets defenceman Tyson Barrie. His third, he all but ended the game with a power-play marker at 18:23, a shot from the bottom of the left faceoff circle that squeezed past Brown.
Told in the post-game media scrum that it‘s hard to believe that one of Team Canada‘s world-junior stars had never scored a hat trick before, Johansen said he couldn‘t believe it either.
"Me too," Johansen answered with a laugh. "Nino (Niederreiter) and (Brad) Ross have been setting me up for the last two years, and it seems like there was a little bit of a curse on me; (the third goal) wouldn‘t go in. But it‘s definitely nice to see."
Asked if Sunday‘s contest was a must-win scenario, Johansen said no.
"I wouldn‘t say must-win, but you don‘t want to go down two games to none, especially when you‘re at home," said the 6-foot-3 centre from Port Moody who previously played one season with the BCHL‘s Penticton Vees. "This one definitely feels really good; it was a great win for us.
"In the intermission after the first period, we really had to keep our composure... there was a little bit of frustration. We had to handle the moment and get out there and play and stick to our game plan, and we did."
ICE CHIPS: Game scratches - Kelowna: LW Zach Franko (head), C Gal Koren, RW Jason Siebert (wrist), C Andreas Stene and C Max Adolph (head). Portland: D Josh Hanson, D Brett Ponich (knee), C Chase De Leo, LW Oliver Gabriel (shoulder), LW Brad Ross (suspension), LW Taylor Leier and C Jason Trott.
http://www.kelownadailycourier.ca/stories_local_sports.php?id=347781