Sun shining on the Winterhawks

On Friday night, the Portland Winterhawks fell at Veterans Memorial Coliseum 6-2 to the Tri-City Americans. Taking the ice less than 24 hours later for an afternoon start against the Vancouver Giants, the Winterhawks spotted the visitors a two-goal lead before coming back to win 4-3 on a Brendan Leipsic goal less than a minute into overtime.

Four different Winterhawks scored in the victory, including WHL leaders Leipsic and Nicolas Petan. After being shut out against Tri-City, each scored his 41st goal of the season.

“We’re really good friends off the ice,” Leipsic said after the game, brushing off any notion of a competition with his linemate for the scoring title. “Whatever happens with the point situation happens, but the main thing is that we’re working hard and helping the team get some wins.”

The start of the contest was delayed by half an hour as sunlight flooded through the windows of Veterans Memorial Coliseum, creating a glare on the ice surface. Once the game finally commenced, the Giants attacked the home side from the opening faceoff.

Just 2:16 into the game, Vancouver center Carter Popoff took a pass from defenseman Arvin Atwal in the neutral zone and streaked unchallenged and unassisted down the right wing. Skating through the sliver of sunlight still reflecting off the ice, Popoff unleashed a quick wrist shot near the right faceoff circle. Portland goaltender Brendan Burke seemed to lose the puck as it flew through the shadows, and the Giants stole the early lead.

Travis McEvoy made it 2-0 for Vancouver with 5:10 left in the second period, wrapping around behind the goal and shooting over a sprawled-out Burke into the open net. Down two goals, Portland finally awakened as the sun outside drifted toward the horizon.

With 1:05 remaining before the second intermission, the Winterhawks finally cracked the Giants’ defenses. Chase De Leo and Oliver Bjorkstrand set up left wing Taylor Leier, who burst through the center of the ice and beat Vancouver goaltender Jared Rathjen on his stick side to cut the gap in half. Portland was still down by a goal as the third period got underway, but the floodgates had been opened.

With 15:23 left in regulation, Portland leveled the game on a power play. Cycling the puck around the ice, Ty Rattie worked it to Leipsic. The winger then found Petan free, who potted the puck past Rathjen to briefly take the league lead in goals.

The crowd got louder as the Winterhawks peppered Rathjen’s net to try and score the go-ahead goal. Under assault from all angles, the goalie finally coughed up a rebound when Adam De Champlain unleashed a shot from the right circle that connected with Paul Bittner’s stick for the tap-in. With just under eight minutes remaining in regulation, Portland had grabbed their first lead of the game.

Vancouver fought back, tying the game at 3-3 four minutes from the end of the third period. Giants center Cain Franson beat Burke with a hard shot from a few yards outside the crease, winding up a one-timer to finish off Brett Kulak’s setup pass. Both sides frantically scrambled for a winner, but neither could find the net again before overtime.

Portland needed just 49 seconds in the extra period to complete the comeback. On the counterattack, defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon hit Leipsic with a tape-to-tape pass. Streaking in, Leipsic deked Rathjen before beating him to the stick side for the game-winner. The victory wrapped up a season sweep of Vancouver for the Winterhawks, who are now 47-9-1-2 with 13 games left in the regular season.

“We were down a couple goals last night and it didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but tonight was a different story,” Leipsic said. “It shows the character on our team, being able to bounce back with a big win like this in front of a big crowd.”