Powell’s Two Goals, Three Assists Lead Portland Past Calgary
Saturday, April 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pmCALGARY — The Portland LumberJax sent a message to the Calgary Roughnecks on Friday to not get too comfortable on top of the West Division.
Led by Ryan Powell’s two goals and three assists, Portland won 11-9 to solidify its hold on second in the division and keep the first place Roughnecks within striking distance.
Tied 8-8, Powell put Portland into the lead for good with a power-play goal at 5:29 of the fourth quarter.
Powell waited with the ball then whipped a shot into the top corner.
“I’m always looking to feed the ball, that’s my game, but they’ve obviously scouted us a little bit and they were sitting back and closing my passing lanes,” said Powell.
“I was going for the top right corner and I just missed three or four other times tonight but that one snuck in there, a huge goal at a huge time.”
Two minutes later, Powell turned playmaker, threading a pass to Dan Stroup who worked himself free in the slot and sent a quick shot past goaltender Pat Campbell to make it 10-8.
Curt Malawsky’s fourth goal got Calgary back to within one at 12:21 but Scott Stewart’s third goal of the night into an empty net clinched it.
“In my four years with this group, it was one of our guttiest wins ever,” said Portland coach Derek Keenan.
“It was a difficult game, against probably the best team in the league, especially offensively. It took a team effort from everyone.”
Peter Morgan and Peter Jacobs also scored twice for Portland (8-6) while Cory Conway scored once.
To finish first, Portland would have to win its final two games and hope the Roughnecks lose both of their remaining games.
The two teams meet again Friday in Portland in each team’s final regular-season game.
Also scoring for Calgary (10-4) was Tracey Kelusky with two goals, Kaleb Toth, Josh Sanderson and Dane Dobbie.
“Nine goals isn’t enough. We’ve got to be better,” said Kelusky. “We haven’t played a full 60 in four or five games now. We’ve got to look at ourselves in the mirror and push ourselves to a higher standard.”
The Roughnecks can clinch top spot with a win Saturday night in Edmonton against the Rush.
Roughnecks coach Troy Cordingley is expecting a better effort.
“It starts with discipline. We were really undisciplined tonight. Defensively, we make some mistakes that we don’t normally make. But we’re going to find a way. We’re 10-4 for a reason. We’ve had some off nights here but we’re going to find a way,” said Cordingley.
Kelusky points out that the time is now to get back to the form the Roughnecks showed early in the season.
“It’s something that’s been plaguing us for the last five games. We’ve been able to find ways to win games, which is good, but at the same time, we’re not getting ourselves prepared for the post-season, which we need to do, and we’re not getting any better,” Kelusky said.
The teams took turns trading momentum in the first half.
Stewart put Portland in front just 10 seconds into the game, before many in the crowd of 10,387 were settled into their seats.
Calgary roared right back as Kelusky, Sanderson and Malawsky scored in an 88-second span to give Calgary a 3-1 lead before the game was three minutes old.
The score remained that way until Portland regained the lead, striking for four straight goals.
Portland led 7-6 at halftime and the game was tied 8-8 after three quarters.
It was the first meeting of the season between the two teams. In their last encounter in May of last season, Portland upset the Roughnecks 16-12 in Calgary to win the West Division final.
Notes: Calgary forward Scott Ranger missed his first game of the season. Ranger had not missed a game since joining the Roughnecks prior to the 2007 season. He had appeared in 45 consecutive games. … Playing his first game of the season for Calgary was veteran forward Kyle Goundrey. Goundrey spent last season with Edmonton after playing the previous six seasons with the Roughnecks… Calgary’s NLL-leading power play went 3-for-5.
