Ryan Hughes was not expected back into the Portland Winterhawks game Wednesday night against the Victoria Royals.
He stretched out for a pass from linemate Joachim Blichfeld and fell awkwardly to the ice midway through the first period.
With his serious leg injury earlier this year and the fact that he did not come out of the locker room to start the second period, his night appeared to be done.
Instead, the 1999-born winger came out a few minutes into the second and came up big for a team already down one left wing in Ty Kolle and icing a defenseman in his place.
Hughes provided the difference in what was a crazy back-and-forth 8-5 affair between the Hawks and Royals. The lead changed three times and the two sides were tied six different times.
The two sides were driven by their top lines, like they have been for much of the year. The trio of Matthew Phillips and Dante Hannoun totaled 10 points. Soy had a hat trick. Portland countered with Kieffer Bellows, Cody Glass and Skyler McKenzie who compiled nine. Bellows had two goals.
In a game where high quality chances were traded like stocks on Wall Street, Portland got more from their next line in Hughes, Blichfeld and Alex Overhardt (five points) and d-men in Henri Jokiharju and Dennis Cholowski (four points) and that was enough for them to escape the high scoring affair with the two points.
Victoria opened the scoring 2:29 in when Scott Walford fired a brilliant pass back door to Kaid Oliver who tapped it in. The goal was Oliver’s sixth this year.
Portland tied the game up eight minutes later from an unlikely source. Conor MacEachern netted his first goal as a forward. A nice low shot/pass on the ice to MacEachern from Jokiharju was tipped in by the former d-man.
Portland then took their first lead 31 seconds later. Jokiharju started a nice cycle by getting the Royals to think he was driving in. Three Royals were drawn in before he dumped the puck deep. McKenzie then found it and swiftly backhanded a pass to Glass alone in front.
The Royals top line got to work to tie it again. Hannoun’s great zone entry pass to a driving Phillips started the play off and then Phillips found Soy all alone at the back post.
Before the first was over, Mason Mannek was in the right place to hammer home a bouncing puck for his ninth of the year and the 3-2 lead after 20. Shots were 18-10 in the first.
The pace did not let up in the second period. Soy got his second of the night 41 seconds in off a strange bounce. A pass from Hannoun headed over to Phillips was deflected away by Cholowski. Unfortunately for the Detroit Red Wings prospect, it bounced off of Soy’s skate and trickled past Portland goalie Cole Kehler.
The goal was Soy’s 141st with the Royals and is the new franchise record.
SCORES! @_SoySauce_ sets the franchise record for most career goals and ties the game 3-3 early in the 2nd! pic.twitter.com/13ai7cxQ2M
— Victoria Royals (@victoriaroyals) February 8, 2018
Soy then made up for the flukiness of his record-setting goal by wiring a hard wrist shot off a feed from Phillips that Kehler had no chance of stopping. Soy’s shot was so hard that it busted the top off of Kehler’s water bottle.
The Hawks tied the game at four just under nine minutes later. Overhardt won a draw deep in the Victoria zone and Blichfeld drilled a quick shot by Victoria goalie Dean McNabb.
The just over a minute later, a basketball style turnaround occurred. Hannoun, with Kehler out of place and the net gaping in front of him, drilled the right post. Phillips then could not corral the rebound in the crease and Portland stormed the other way. McKenzie found Bellows in front and the Hawks turned a sure 5-4 deficit into a 5-4 advantage.
Phillips did find the puck 6:55 into the third off a slick two-on-one pass from Hannoun, tying the game at five and giving him 39 this year.
Just 34 seconds later, Hughes scored the eventual game winner. Overhardt took a big check to get a cross-ice pass over to Blichfeld and the Danish winger swiftly found Hughes in the high slot for a one-timer. The puck got past McNabb’s right pad and gave Hughes his second goal in as many games.
Bellows provided some much needed insurance. Glass threaded the needle with an incredible pass to Bellows in between two Royals on the rush. The N.Y. Islanders winger lifted a stick to get to the puck and then beat McNabb for his 28th goal this year. Since returning from World Juniors, he has nine goals and six assists for 15 points in seven games. Six of those goals have come in his last four games.
Though he only stopped 23 of 28, Kehler made quite a few key stops. None were bigger than the sweeping poke check be made on a driving Royals forward with under three minutes to go and his team up two.
McKenzie then put the game away with a long shot into the vacant Victoria net. The goal was his 40th this year and gives him two seasons in-a-row with 40 or more.
McNabb, making only his 12th start this year, stopped 36 of 43. Interestingly enough, Griffen Outhouse came in to relieve him with 6:14 left. Outhouse stopped all three shots he faced.
The Hawks went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Royals were 0-for-1.
Portland now has a very important three-games in three-nights. They start out hosting Tri-City on Friday, before playing a home-and-home with Seattle.
Victoria will host the Kelowna Rockets on Friday.
Game Notes:
-Ty Kolle did not play but was not listed on Tuesday’s weekly injury report.
-Glass has eight assists and one goal since coming back from an injury four games ago.
-Cholowski has yet to score a goal with Portland but has 13 assists.
-Jokiharju was a plus-four and had two assists. Since returning from the WJCs, he has one goal and 12 assists in 14 games.
-Portland remains three points behind Everett for the top spot in the U.S. Division and Western Conference.
-The Royals are now two points behind the Kelowna Rockets for tops in the B.C. The Rockets beat the Vancouver Giants 4-1 on Wednesday.
