The Portland Winterhawks scored on the game’s first and last shot, recording a 5-4 overtime triumph over the Saskatoon Blades Saturday.

In between, the two nationally-ranked squads put 78 shots on goal, with seven more goals as neither team could take more than a one-goal lead in the back-and-forth contest. Three times the Bridge City Bunch rallied to tie the score, then led in the third period until Josh Davies forced overtime with just over eight minutes remaining in the third period. That set the stage for Jack O’Brien’s winner just 44 seconds into O-T. The 15-6-1 Hawks scored three times in the opening minute of the first, second and overtime periods while the 16-8-1 Blue and Gold battled hard all night. Easton Armstrong scored twice on the power play as the Blades ended an oh-for-15 drought on the man advantage coming into the contest. Fraser Minten tallied in his Saskatoon debut, a day after being acquired from Kamloops, and fellow Toronto Maple Leafs’ draft pick Brandon Lisowsky also scored for the Bridge City Bunch. James Stefan paced the Portland offence with two goals and two assists in front of 4,989 fans at the “Glass Palace.” The Blue and Gold’ season-longest seven-game road trip continues Tuesday with Game 5 in Kennewick, Washington, against the Tri-City Americans. Following are the audio highlights from CJWW’s broadcast, Les Lazaruk’s Post-Game Show interview with head coach Brennan Sonne and the official game summary courtesy the W-H-L…..

Saskatoon Blades 4 at Portland Winterhawks 5 (OT) – Status: Final OT
Saturday, November 25, 2023 – Veterans Memorial Coliseum – Portland, OR

Saskatoon 2 1 1 0 – 4
Portland 2 1 1 1 – 5

1st Period-1, Portland, Stefan 13 (Davies, Klassen), 0:21. 2, Saskatoon, Lisowsky 15 (Saunderson, Watterodt), 7:38. 3, Portland, Stefan 14 (Davies), 13:44. 4, Saskatoon, Armstrong 12 (Wong, Wright), 17:46 (PP). Penalties-Armstrong Sas (roughing), 8:26; Nguyen Por (roughing), 8:26; Moore Sas (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 15:22; Yaremko Por (unsportsmanlike cnd.), 15:22; Nguyen Por (hooking), 15:53.

2nd Period-5, Portland, Klassen 14 (Sotheran, Stefan), 0:25. 6, Saskatoon, Minten 4 (Watterodt), 16:56. Penalties-No Penalties

3rd Period-7, Saskatoon, Armstrong 13 (Lisowsky, Wong), 3:15 (PP). 8, Portland, Davies 17 (Stefan, Klassen), 11:47. Penalties-Johnson Por (delay of game), 3:00; Calvert Sas (major-fighting), 6:20; Yaremko Por (major-fighting), 6:20.

OT Period-9, Portland, O’Brien 7 (Nguyen, Alscher), 0:44. Penalties-No Penalties

Shots on Goal-Saskatoon 13-7-20-0-40. Portland 9-12-18-1-40.
Power Play Opportunities-Saskatoon 2 / 2; Portland 0 / 0.
Goalies-Saskatoon, Elliott 11-4-1-0 (40 shots-35 saves). Portland, Maric 1-1-0-0 (40 shots-36 saves).
A-4,989
Referees-Mike Langin (67), Mark Pearce (5).
Linesmen-Michael Bean (148), Brett Mackey (75).