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Winterhawks surge past Royals

Victoria visits Wenatchee on Saturday
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Head coach James Patrick and the Royals visit the Wild in Wenatchee on Saturday. (DARREN STONE, TIMES COLONIST)

The host Portland Winterhawks used a lethal power play, scoring on three of their five odd-man opportunities, and the 39-save goaltending of Ondrej Stebetak to defeat the Victoria Royals 5-3 in a Western Hockey League game played in front of 4,312 fans Friday night at the Veterans Memorial ­Coliseum.

The Royals overcame a 2-0 deficit in the first period as rookie Czech-import Simon Pohludka’s second goal of the season and veteran Teydon ­Trembecky’s first of the season tied it 2-2 before the break.

Sixteen-year-old rookie Nolan Stewart’s second goal of the season gave Victoria the lead early in the second period before Tyson Jugnauth levelled for Portland at 5:45.

There is an adage in hockey that goals allowed in the first and last minutes of periods are back-breakers. The Royals suffered both as Ryan Miller scored for Portland at 19:52 of the second period and Carsyn Dyck at 35 seconds of the third period.

Jayden Kraus made 17 saves in goal for Victoria to Stebetak’s 39 for ­Portland.

The Winterhawks moved to 3-1 while Victoria fell to 3-1-1.

The game was a reprise of the last season’s first-round playoff series between the clubs, won in a four-game sweep by the Winterhawks, on their way to the 2024 WHL final.

The Royals are in Wenatchee, ­Washington, tonight to play the Wild (2-1-1). It will be the first in a trifecta of consecutive games against the Wild, continuing next Friday and Saturday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.