The Winterhawks Balance the Attack
Tuesday night’s victory in Victoria has proved to be a high-water mark for the Winterhawks season; not only has Oliver Bjorkstrand hit his 100th career goal, and not only has the team extended their winning streak to 6 games, but the team played together and won together. The 6 goals that sealed the game for Portland were scored by six different players.
This isn’t the first win with widespread points for the Hawks, either. The huge 7-1 win over the Everett Silvertips several weeks ago boasted five different scorers, and both high-profile games against Kelowna the week after yielded 8 total goals from five different players.
Star offensive players are certainly welcome, and Portland sure has a fair share of them in Bjorkstrand, Petan, and De Leo (just to name a few), but I wonder if this more democratic strategy is how true contender teams are made. I’m sad to say that other team-based sports are falling into the habit of becoming too individual, with the NBA and NFL focused solely on superstar players as opposed to powerhouse teams. But in hockey, are the pros playing as a united front?
Well, the best of them are. The Tampa Bay Lightning, Pittsburgh Penguins, and Vancouver Canucks are all leading their divisions with 17 wins each, and the high-score victories of late have come from a balanced offensive attack for all three teams. The Lightning recently went on a spree against the Rangers, gaining 6 goals off four shooters, and also beat Ottowa with 4 goals from four players. Pittsburgh’s last win against Carolina had 3 goals from three players, and Vancouver landed a 5-0 shutout against the Columbus Blue Jackets with all five goals scored by different Canucks.
Of course, any stats nerd worth their salt knows that correlation does not necessarily imply causation. But in the case of these top NHL teams and the Portland Winterhawks, this appears to be effective. The Hawks have slipped past the Spokane Chiefs to take the number two slot in the U.S. Division, and hope to close the gap this Saturday against Everett, who lead with a 17-5-3-1 record. The Silvertips have been playing at .500 since their last bout with Portland, losing consistently against B.C. and Central Canada teams but holding their own against Seattle and Spokane.
The Winterhawks have had a rather oddly scheduled season, with only 10 of their 30 games having been against U.S. Division teams, and most of those were during the woeful September and early October days. They haven’t fared as well as they have against some of the more serious competitors out of the Central division and Eastern Conference, but with this new balance to the offense and Adin Hill’s fantastic showing in the goal this last week, that may be set to change.
