Music: {allcanada} BITTNER SCORES TWICE AS WINTERHAWKS TOP OIL KINGS

Saturday, May 3, 2014

{allcanada} BITTNER SCORES TWICE AS WINTERHAWKS TOP OIL KINGS

PORTLAND, Ore. - Paul Bittner scored two goals and Nicolas Petan added three assists as the Portland Winterhawks took Game 1 of the Western Hockey League final with a 5-2 win over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Keegan Iverson, Chase De Leo and Mathew Dumba also scored for Portland while Goaltender Corbin Boes made 31 saves for the win.

Brett Pollock and Henrik Samuelsson supplied the goals for the Oil Kings as Tristan Jarry stopped 31 shots in a losing effort.

Edmonton earned three power plays in the first period to Portland's none, but it was the Winterhawks who got off to a fast start.

Iverson scored 2:20 into the first period to put Portland up 1-0, a score that held until the Winterhawks added two goals in the final two minutes of the period.

Bittner's goal with 1:53 left in period was followed by a De Leo strike 57 seconds later to put Portland up 3-0 through 20 minutes.

The Oil Kings responded, as Pollock scored his team-leading 11th goal of the post-season to put Edmonton on the board 20 seconds into the second period and Samuelsson scored exactly two minutes later to make it 3-2.

Dumba's power-play goal with 37 seconds left in the second rebuilt Portland's lead to 4-2, and Bittner added his second of the game with a wrist shot early in the third.

Edmonton went scoreless on four power play chances in the game, while Portland finished 1 for 5.

The Oil Kings and Winterhawks are meeting in the WHL final for the third straight season. Edmonton won in seven games in 2012, while Portland took the championship series in six games last season.

Portland is appearing in its fourth consecutive league final, the first WHL team to do so since the New Westminster Bruins played in four straight from 1975-78.

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