The Portland Winterhawks overcame a 2-0 deficit to show turnabout is fair play Wednesday night at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in a 7-2 WHL victory over the Victoria Royals.
The Royals had rallied from a 2-0 hole the night before to defeat the Winterhawks 7-4.
It was a sweet farewell to the Memorial Centre for 20-year-old Winterhawks defencemen Brendan De Jong and Jared Freadrich. Unless the Winterhawks and Royals meet in the playoffs, it was the last career game on Blanshard Street for Juan de Fuca minor hockey product De Jong, a draft pick of the Carolina Hurricanes, and former Royals blue-liner Freadrich.
Rookie Ty Yoder, with his first career WHL goal, and a backhander by defenceman and Montreal Canadiens third-round draft pick Scott Walford staked the Royals to the two-goal advantage heading into the first break. But then the rains caved in the Memorial Centre roof. Well, at least the Winterhawks did, by raining seven unanswered goals on the heads of the Royals. Joachim Blichfeld, who represented Denmark in the 2018 world junior championship, scored two goals for Portland on a four-point night.
Victoria dropped to 14-13-1 and Portland improved to 19-11-2.
The loss denied Victoria goaltender Griffen Outhouse his 100th career WHL regular-season victory.
