Victoria Royals head coach Dan Price said his club’s perceived lack of finishing has only been a “matter of inches” in many games. He added that sometimes all it takes is a few lucky bounces to get the goals flowing. The Royals, who had scored only once in their two previous games, got those happenstance breaks galore in opening the taps Tuesday at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in a 7-4 victory to snap the Portland Winterhawks’ four-game winning streak.
Sophomore Tarun Fizer recorded his first career Western Hockey League hat-trick and veteran Dante Hannoun scored twice as Victoria moved to 14-12-1 and Portland dropped to 18-11-2.
Two Winterhawks own goals, credited to Hannoun and defenceman Ralph Jarratt, didn’t hurt, either, and accounted for those chancy deflections to which Price felt were due.
Hannoun also picked up a clever assist on Fizer’s first goal and had four points on the night to push his points streak against the Winterhawks to nine consecutive games. Hannoun has six goals and 15 assists for 21 points in 15 career games against Portland.
Dino Kambeitz fed Brandon Cutler for the goal of the night as the Royals rallied from a 2-0 deficit to lead 3-2 heading into the first break. Blue-liner Scott Walford, a third-round draft pick of the Montreal Canadiens, had four assists.
The Royals had their three 20-year-olds — Hannoun, Jarratt and goaltender Griffen Outhouse — in the lineup together for only the eighth time this season and are now 7-1 in those games.
Outhouse made 35 saves as it was an important bounce-back game for a Victoria team that only managed three of a possible 10 points in a five-game road trip leading in.
Cross Hanas scored twice for Portland.
The teams meet again Wednesday night.
ICE CHIPS: Defenceman Jake Kustra, acquired this week by the Royals from the Saskatoon Blades for a 2019 fourth-round bantam draft selection, is injured and not expected to play until after Christmas.
