The WHL Championship series resumes tonight, with Game 3 coming. The series currently stands tied at 1-1, with Portland and Ryan Johansen winning Game 1 Friday at home in overtime by the score of 4-3, and Kootenay taking Game 2 on Saturday by riding a five-goal second period en route to a 7-5 win.
More importantly than that, we ask: how is The Johan doing? Well, he’s goal-less through the first two games, though he’s making an impact with four assists and a +1 rating. He’s assisted on four of his team’s nine goals in the series. In Game 1, the Winterhawks came out firing, scoring three goals in the first period. Johansen got the primary assist on Portland’s second goal, and the secondary assist on their third. He finished +2 on the night.
In Game 2, Johansen assisted on a short-handed goal just before the end of the second period that stopped a 5-goal onslaught by Kootenay throughout the period. The teams entered the second period tied at 1, and after Kootenay scored five straight in the period to lead 6-1. But, the Winterhawks got some momentum going into the dressing room at intermission after Johansen set up teammate Sven Bartschi (who, on the side, has been a MONSTER in this series with four goals in two games) while killing a penalty at 19:19 of the period. Sure, it was 6-2 going into the break, but Portland used that momentum to score three straight in the first 8:14 of the third to close to 6-5, with Johansen getting the primary assist on the Winterhawks’ fifth goal. Sadly, Kootenay weathered the storm, and added an empty netter for the final 7-5 tally.
The series schedule continues as follows: Game 3 is tonight in Cranbrook, BC at 9:00 EDT. Game 4 is tomorrow, same venue and time. Game 5 will be on Friday back in Portland at the Rose Garden, at 10:30 EDT. If necessary, Game 6 will head back to British Columbia, and Game 7 is in Portland. Those games are tentatively scheduled for Sunday and Monday night.