Tuesday 27 January 2015

Preview: Victoria at Portland, Wed Jan.28.2015

The Victoria Royals (26-19-3-1, 56pts) kick off a 3 game US Division road swing against the Portland Winterhawks (28-19-0-3, 59pts) Wednesday night.

Pregame show at 6:40 on The Zone @ 91.3 fm or online cjzn.streamon.fm

It’s the fourth and final meeting of the season with the Winterhawks hold a 2-1 series advantage.

Portland is 3 points up on Victoria in the Conference, and both clubs are 2nd in their respective divisions.

The Royals have points in 7 straight games (6-0-1-0), and in 10 of their last 11, while the Winterhawks are riding a 5 game win streak.  Both clubs have 8 wins in their past 10.

Portland is coming of a 7-5 win at home against Tri City Sunday, as Oliver Bjorkstrand netted a hat trick and four points.  Nicolas Petan also picked up one goal and two assists for the Winterhawks while Paul Bittner had a goal and a helper.  They won 3 in 3 nights with victories against the Thunderbirds 4-3, and versus the Chiefs, 4-1.

The Royals earned a split against the visiting Blazers Saturday with a 6-0 victory and picked up 3 of a possible 4 points on the weekend after falling 4-3 in overtime Friday.

Brandon Fushimi was the games first star with 2 goals and an assist, while Jack Walker also had 3 points (1g 2a) for 2nd star honours.

Paulic, the games 3rd star has won all 4 starts for Victoria since arriving from Moose Jaw in a trade in early January.

The Royals power play went 4 for 7, while shutting down all 4 Blazer man advantages.  Victoria was 4 for 4 at one point in the middle frame, and are 8 for 18 (44.44%) over their last 4 games, and is now ranked 5th best in the league.  Their penalty kill has stopped 22 of 24 over their last 7 outings.

Portland in 4 over .500 at home, while Victoria is 2 under on the road.

The Winterhawks are led in scoring by Blue Jackets signed prospect Oliver Bjorkstrands 61 points in 37 games, good for 5th in overall scoring.  He also has the 4th most goals with 30.  Bjorkstrand has 21 points in 9 games since he returned from the 2015 WJC, where he played for Denmark.

Chase De Leo has 54 points and played for the USA at the WJ, and Nic Petan who won Gold for Canada at the WJ, in 3rd in scoring with 45 points in 32 games.

Netminder Adin Hill owns the leagues best save percentage at 0.928 and is ranked 9th among goaltenders by NHL CSS.

Austin Carroll leads the Royals in scoring with 58 points, and has the most power play goals in the league with 13.  Travis Brown leads all defensemen in scoring with 47 points, goals with 16, and 8 power play markers.  Joe Hicketts is tied for 3rd in rearguard scoring with 44 points, including 35 assists.

After Portland, Victoria plays in Spokane Friday and Tri City Saturday.

- Marlon Martens

Victoria Royals vs Portland Winterhawks: Head To Head Stats Summary
  
Description
Result
Head to Head Record 2014-15 Regular SeasonVictoria 1-2-0-0Portland 2-1-0-0
Head to Head Record 2013-14 Regular SeasonVictoria 3-1-0-0Portland 1-1-1-1
Last 5 Years record between teamsVictoria 8-11-0-0Portland 11-6-1-1
Victoria vs. Portland Last 5 Years record at VictoriaVictoria 6-4-0-0Portland 4-5-0-1
Victoria vs. Portland Last 5 Years record at PortlandVictoria 2-7-0-0Portland 7-1-1-0
Previous Meetings This SeasonPortland 6 @ Victoria 4 (Dec 2 2014) Final
Victoria 2 @ Portland 4 (Nov 25 2014) Final
Portland 2 @ Victoria 6 (Oct 6 2014) Final

How the 2 teams match up
   
 
Portland
Victoria
Team Record28-19-0-3 -- 59 points26-19-3-1 -- 56 points
Division Ranking2nd U.S.2nd B.C.
Conference Ranking3rd Western4th Western
League Ranking7th9th
Past 10 Games8-2-0-08-1-1-0
Streak5-0-0-06-0-1-0
Last Game7-5 W vs Tri-City (Jan 25 2015) Final6-0 W vs Kamloops (Jan 24 2015) Final
Home Record13-9-0-216-7-3-0
Away Record15-10-0-110-12-0-1
GF176 169 
GA164 154 
PP (Overall)(41/191) 21.5(50/216) 23.1
PP (Home)(19/101) 18.8(29/104) 27.9
PP (Away)(22/90) 24.4(21/112) 18.8
PK (Overall)(40/218) 81.7(43/210) 79.5
PK (Home)(17/113) 85.0(17/102) 83.3
PK (Away)(23/105) 78.1(26/108) 75.9
Leading RookieHeinrich (5-11-16)Nagy (4-6-10)
Most PIMSchoenborn - 66Carroll - 91
Team PIM/GM13.5/Game14.9/Game
Leading ScorersBjorkstrand (31-30-61)Carroll (28-30-58)
 De Leo (21-33-54)Brown (16-31-47)
 Petan (8-37-45)Hicketts (9-35-44)
 Bittner (21-18-39)Forsberg (19-22-41)
 Koules (21-18-39)Magee (15-26-41)
Last 5 Games7-5 W vs Tri-City (Jan 25 2015) Final6-0 W vs Kamloops (Jan 24 2015) Final
 4-3 W @ Seattle (Jan 24 2015) Final OT4-3 L vs Kamloops (Jan 23 2015) Final OT
 4-1 W vs Spokane (Jan 23 2015) Final4-3 W @ Edmonton (Jan 18 2015) Final OT
 8-2 W @ Prince George (Jan 17 2015) Final4-1 W @ Calgary (Jan 17 2015) Final
 4-3 W @ Prince George (Jan 16 2015) Final SO2-1 W @ Red Deer (Jan 16 2015) Final SO
Leading After 1st17-3-0-312-3-0-0
Leading After 2nd21-2-0-117-1-0-0
Tied After 1st8-5-0-08-5-0-1
Tied After 2nd5-4-0-15-2-2-0
Trailing After 1st3-11-0-06-11-3-0
Trailing After 2nd2-13-0-14-16-1-1
Out Shooting Opponents13-5-0-215-5-1-0
Out Shot by Opponents15-13-0-110-13-2-1
1-Goal Games10-7-0-310-6-3-1
2-Goal Games8-2-0-05-6-0-0
3-Goal Games5-4-0-04-3-0-0