The Calgary Hitmen (9-13-2-0) are currently on their U.S. Division road trip and were looking for a strong defensive performance after losing to the Portland Winterhawks (13-8-0-2) the last two seasons by a combined score 16-5.
The Hitmen received such a performance both by their 18-year-old goalie Carl Stankowski as well as limiting Portland’s chances. Stankowski stopped a career high 38 saves for the visitors and James Malm continued his goal scoring trend against the Winterhawks.
Calgary acquired Carl Stankowski from Seattle during the off-season. Portland fans will remember Stankowski from his time with the Seattle Thunderbirds a few seasons ago. Malm was acquired earlier this season from the Vancouver Giants for Tristen Nielsen. Malm played Portland before when the Giants were in town earlier this year. Both players’ impact has been immediate for Calgary.
Hitmen head coach Steve Hamilton said, “our goaltender was excellent for us tonight; he was the best player on the ice for us.” Regarding Malm, Hamilton said, “He’s been huge for us since the acquisition. He gives us a layer of depth offensively we didn’t have and is a pretty key driver for us.”
The Winterhawks opened the scoring in the first period after Joachim Blichfeld left the puck for Cody Glass at the offensive blue line. Glass corralled the puck, and cut to the slot. He was able to get the Hitmen defender to commit to the shot block before taking another stride and beat Stankowski with a shot far side.
In the second period the teams each had a power play. The Hitmen converted on their power play with Jake Kryski’s 11th goal of the season. Portland however weren’t able to get anything by Stankowski on the power play. Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston said post-game, “Our power play has to be better. I didn’t think it was a real threat tonight. We had a couple of chances, but wasn’t a threat like it usually is for us. They got a power play goal and we didn’t, it was a 3-2 game.”
Entering the third period both teams continued playing their game. Hamilton thought, “we played a pretty gritty road game which we knew that against a team like this we were going to have to lock it down.” Meanwhile, for Portland, they continued to press and Johnston thought “we had our chances to win. I thought Stankowski played really well in goal. We had a couple of goalmouth scrambles we missed. It was a tight game.”
Stankowski made several spectacular saves in the third period, but most notable was his rebound control. Carl gave credit to his defense though, “I try to stay calm, but couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They helped me see the puck and boxed guys out for me. The second chances weren’t there because my defense was watching for that. A lot of credit goes out to them.”
James Malm, playing his third game against Portland this season, scored the second goal of the game for Calgary. “[Luke] Coleman looked off a guy and fed it down to me down low. I saw the poke check off and decided to take a backhand far-side and was lucky to put it in.” His goal gave a lift to the Hitmen. Hamilton described the timing of the goal, “We hung around long enough for our offense to kick in.”
Riley Stotts gave the Hitmen a two goal advantage shortly after a Portland power play expired. Stotts got behind the Winterhawks defense and made no mistake with his shot. The two goal advantage proved to be too much for Portland to overcome. Johnston said, “I thought it was a pretty even third period overall. We knew we had to keep it tight and wait until we scored the goal. We scored the goal, but were trying to overcome a two goal deficit, and I didn’t think there was enough time on the clock.”
John Ludvig got the Winterhawks within a goal with just less than five minutes to play. Ludvig described his goal, “I had a few chances in the night. I was feeling good, I got a good pass from Mason [Mannek] backdoor, so credit to him.”
Not long after Ludvig made the score 3-2, Calgary thought they restored their two goal advantage. The Hitmen turned the Winterhawks over at the Calgary blue line and a 4-on-1 rush approached goalie Shane Farkas. Farkas made the initial save, but the puck squeaked through and sat in the crease. Kaden Elder’s stick was tied up, but was able to kick the puck into the net. After the referees looked at the play, the goal was called off since the puck was kicked in from within the crease.
With under three minutes to play, the line of Malm, Carson Focht, and Luke Coleman went on a shift which killed significant time off the clock. Malm described the shift, “When it is down that much and you are hemming a team in their own zone you don’t want to make any blind plays. We were keeping the puck around the yellow, the outside of the ice, and working them using our body and keeping it in tight.”
Hamilton praised his forwards, “shows the guys have good awareness of hockey savvy. There was no sense in risky turnovers. It was a good puck protection shift.” Stankowski was a spectator from the other end of the ice, “It was pretty crazy. I actually haven’t seen anything like that before. Malm is really good down there and the boys did a great job to kill time. All of those things add up to a win.”
Johnston was “looking at the clock as far as trying to get Farkas out around the two minute mark. We had our top six guys waiting on the bench so had a young group of guys on the ice. Actually a group that scored the goal prior to that. They kept it low and got it to the point, didn’t take any shots, just sent it back down. We just couldn’t make that play to get out of the zone.”
Farkas wasn’t able to get to the bench until there were around 44 seconds remaining. The Winterhawks chances were limited and none truly troubled Stankowski.
In the end the Hitmen hung on for the 3-2 victory. Malm gives credit to his netminder, “He is an unbelievable goalie. He has a ring for a reason in this league, and it is really nice to see him play really well.”
The Hitmen have a day off tomorrow before playing in Seattle. Their tough U.S. Division road trips ends on Saturday with a visit to Tri-City. Stankowski has the Seattle game “marked on my calendar for a long time. I’m so excited. I don’t know how the fans are going to react on Saturday; don’t know if they are going to boo me or if they are going to cheer. I guess we will see, but I’m so excited and ready for that game.”
Portland has a day off tomorrow in observance of Thanksgiving, but will practice on Friday before facing Seattle and Everett on Saturday and Sunday. Ludvig feels “these are two huge games for us, especially Seattle. We lost against them in their barn, so when they come here we definitely want to get the win in ours.” Johnston said, “It is going to be a really hard battle, it is good to have them at home though.”
Notes:
– Brendan De Jong returned to the lineup after suffering an injury against Everett a week ago. The injury kept him out of the Seattle game on Saturday. Kade Nolan participated in warmups in case De Jong wasn’t able to play, but the overager was ready to play.
– Nick Cicek received his turn in the lineup as part of the 6th defenseman rotation Portland is using in the first portion of the season.
– Johnston adjusted his lines with about ten minutes to play. The most notable adjustment was reuniting the Glass, Blichfeld, and Reece Newkirk line. After the game he elaborated, “In the last ten minutes of the third you are always trying to move pieces around. I had Dureau with Jarvis and Mannek for a little bit too. I kind of switched guys around. Just trying to get some energy and life in your lineup.”
