The first-place Portland Winterhawks got three more points from Ty Rattie and Sven Bartschi as they steamrolled the Kelowna Rockets Saturday night at Prospera Place, winning 5-1. Rattie scored a pair of tallies as well as assisting on one of Ryan Johansen's two goals to lead the way for the Hawks. Rattie now has 13 points in his last 5 games, and 8 in the two games the Hawks played this weekend. Bartschi has a streak of his own going, as he had three assists on Saturday night to give him 12 points in his last 5 games. Ryan Johansen was united with those two on Friday night, and though he didn't get on the scoresheet in Kamloops, Mike Johnston on our pregame show called it "one of the best games he's had all season, points don't always tell the full story". Well Johansen continued his solid play on Saturday, and this time he was rewarded with a pair of goals. The Rockets simply didn't have any answers for the "Addition Line" (Rattie wears #8, Johansen #19, adds up to Bartschi's #27).
Mac Carruth played very well in net for Portland, making 32 saves on 33 shots. He made all the saves that he should have, and was really active with his pads. The defense in front of the Hawks did a great job of forcing Kelowna to mostly shoot from the perimeter, and though Kelowna outshot the Hawks 33-32, they generated only a couple quality scoring chances. Kudos once again go to the Hawks' penalty killers, as Tayler Jordan, Spencer Bennett, Taylor Peters, and Tyler Wotherspoon in particular were exceptional as Kelowna barely got a sniff at the attacking zone, let alone the Hawks' net, on their 5 powerplays.
Three Stars of the Weekend:
1. Ty Rattie- Absolute no brainer here, his 5 point outburst on Friday night was the first in a Winterhawk sweater since Braydon Coburn scored 5 points against the Seattle Thunderbirds in February of 2005. All he did for an encore was score 2 more goals and add a helper on Saturday night to help the Hawks improve their road record to 5-1-0-0.
2. Sven Bartschi- The Swiss Sniper v. 2.0 had another phenomenal weekend. A 4 point night on Friday night including a goal late in the third period after Kamloops had taken a bit of momentum helped propel the Hawks to victory. He followed it up with three assists on Saturday night, and although he saw his goal streak end at four games, he extended his point streak to 5.
3. Ryan Johansen- Though he didn't score on Friday, he was instrumental in helping the Hawks bounce back from defeat. The Hawks have now gone 3-0-0-0 and outscored their opponents 21-10 in games following a loss or shootout loss this season. Johansen was all over the ice both nights, and showed his commitment to the game all weekend, watching video of his shifts, trying to improve himself as a player. The Columbus Blue Jackets wanted to see Johansen improve his defensive game, and he's been tremendous this year blocking shots on the penalty kill. His +5 rating through 8 games is 5th on the team.
Honorable Mention:
Derrick Pouliot played a solid weekend and chipped in with 4 assists.
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