Edmonton Oil Kings at Portland Winterhawks: Preview, updates, chat, how to listen and watch the stream

What: The Portland Winterhawks (5-0) take on the Edmonton Oil Kings (1-4-1) in the Western Hockey League.

When: Tuesday, October 11, 7 p.m.

Where: memorial coliseum.

Watch: You can stream the game via CHL TV’s pay-per-view program (US$6.10 for a game).

Listen: Winterhawks and Oil Kings audio.

Consequences:

• The box score.
• Get updates and chat before, during and after the game.

The Portland Winterhawks went 5-0 up Sunday night with a 5-2 win over Spokane. 4 power play goals did the trick, 3 of them through the work of Robbie Fromm-Delorme that ended in a 4-point night. That rated her power play percentage at twice the league average. Luca Cagnoni was also at the top of his game with 3 out of 5 multi-point games.

Portland is one of only 3 unbeaten teams in the league, along with the Seattle Thunderbirds and the Red Deer Rebels. The opponent wasn’t difficult: They’ve only played one team over .500, and even that one has an asterisk because Kamloops were missing a lot of players. A stronger Kamloops is on the cards this weekend, but first the Winterhawks must prevent Tuesday’s matchup with Edmonton from becoming a trap game.

Klassen has missed the last two games and Nguyen has missed two of the last three. O’Brien, Chyzowski and Stefan more than closed the gap.

Lead forward: Fromm-Delorme (9 points/5 games), Klassen (7/3), O’Brien (7/5), Chyzowski (5/5), Stefan (4/3).

That they’ve stuck to 10 defenders up to this point, when 7 or 8 is the norm, suggests they expect some sort of move. At 10, they had to rotate a lot, to the point where Ryder Thompson sat out on Sunday.

Even if Fromm-Delorme played, one could easily argue that Cagnoni was their best player.

Leading Defenders: Cagnoni (7/5), Sotheran (4/5), Ryder Thompson (3/4).

50-50 who gets the call in this case.

Save percent: Giannuzzi .904, Špunar .918.

After earning their first win of the season in Spokane on Friday, things fell apart for the Edmonton Oil Kings on Saturday when they lost 7-1 to Tri-City in Game 2 of their tour of the United States. It was a poor start for the Oil Kings after winning the championship last season. Although they lost a lot of players, they might be a little surprised. They had four 16-year-olds who had regular minutes en route to the title last season, but none of them have started this season very well.

Dylan Guenther, the 8th overall pick in the 2021 NHL Draft, has made it to the Arizona Coyotes, at least for now. He’s still on their list, so they could be optimistic he’ll return after the 9-game test junior prospects often get. He would give them a massive boost.

There are other reasons for optimism. They have two 16-year-olds who started well, they have good goalies, and they have defenseman Logan Dowhaniuk, the rare player who has played in six WHL seasons and anchors their blue line. But first they have to make it through the last three games of their Portland, Everett and Seattle road trip; They’re staring at a 9-game start with just 1 win.

As you rebuild, having a 16-year-old leading your score isn’t the worst thing for the future. Hodnett is a first-round pick, 18th overall, pretty small, but he started well.

Melnyk came over from Tri-City. Golder, formerly Victoria, is a converted defender.

Lead forward: Hodnett (4/6), Melnyk (3/6), Van Olm (3/6), Finley (3/6), Golder (2/6), Finnie (2/6), Hauf (2/6), Mueller (2/6).

A 16-year-old also tops the list of goalscorers in defence.

Andregg also came over from Tri-City.

Leading Defenders: MacKenzie (3/5), Dowhaniuk (3/6), Peters (2/6).

Hay was the backup in the league season, not having great numbers but so far this season, after a 33-on-34 game against Spokane.

At a game in Everett on Wednesday, the backup will likely play in one game, they just have to decide which one.

Save percent: Hay .906, Worthington .838.

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