The Portage Terriers went 3-for-4 on the power-play and beat the Winkler Flyers 5-2 on Wednesday night in their final meeting of the regular season. After building a 2-1 lead early in the second period, the Flyers gave up the next four straight while losing their fourth straight game on the road.
Just 24 hours after dropping a 3-2 decision to the Blues in Winnipeg, in a game where the Flyers definitely played good enough to win, the Orange and Black made their way to Portage to play the defending champion Terriers for the last time.
After allowing the first goal of the game in 17 of their last 25 games, the Flyers found the back of the net first with just under five minutes left in the opening period. Taking the drop pass from Jayden McCarthy, Garrett Szeremley cut towards the front of the net and let a shot go towards the crowd in front of the goal. Rookie defenseman Kyle Lamoureux managed to get a piece of it, scoring his second goal of the season while giving Winkler a 1-0 lead.
The Terriers scored one of their own later in the period and the game was tied 1-1 after one. Early in the second period, the Flyers went back in front when Captain Jaden Townsend redirected a nice pass from Jayden McCarthy into the net and Winkler had a 2-1 lead. Griffin Leonard also assisted on Townsend’s 15th goal of the season and third in his last three games.
However, the Terrier power-play went to work and tied the game up again with under five minutes left in the middle period. Portage managed to add another goal before intermission and took their 3-2 lead into he third.
Just 39 seconds into the final period, Portage scored their second goal on the power-play to increase their lead to two goals. The Flyers continued to generate chances and came close on numerous occasions but it was not meant to be. In the final few minutes of regulation, the Terriers struck again on the power-play and would go on to win the game 5-2, winning five of the six head to head matchups this season.
Dorrin Luding played well in goal, stopping 20 shots in the loss. Portage outshot Winkler 25-15. Winkler went 0-for-1 on the power-play and 1-for-4 on the penalty-kill. The third place Flyers (34-15-5) now trail the second place Terriers by three points in the MJHL Standings. Winkler is also four points ahead of the fourth place Swan Valley Stampeders with six regular season games left.
Next up for Winkler is a date with the Selkirk Steelers on Friday night. You can catch the broadcast live from Selkirk on Country 88.9FM and online at www.pembinavalleyonline.com with Matt Friesen’s pregame show at 7:25pm. You can also watch the game live with a subscription to www.hockeytv.com. The Flyers are 2-1 against Selkirk this season.