Blazers 5, Winter Hawks 4

From The Daily News of Monday, Oct. 15. . . .

The Kamloops Blazers’ power play, which had been deader than road kill, came to life Sunday in Portland.
Down 2-0 less than two minutes into the game, the Blazers struck for four power-play goals, three of them in the second period, and beat the Winter Hawks, 5-4.
“The power play kicked in and it was very good,” Dean Clark, the Blazers’ general manager and head coach, said. “We needed that to happen eventually.”
That power play was 0-for-5 Saturday in a 2-1 loss to the Thunderbirds in Seattle.
Last night, it took an even-strength goal from right-winger Sasha Golin from a scramble with 1:28 left in the third period to give the Blazers the victory. Golin, who was acquired from Portland last season, also had an assist as he picked up his first two points this season.
The Blazers got a huge game from the line of Brock Nixon between Ivan Rohac and Juuso Puustinen.
Puustinen scored three times and added an assist, the sophomore from Finland enjoying his first three-goal and four-point game. Nixon helped out with a goal and three assists, for the sixth four-point outing of his career, which is in its fifth season. Rohac, a second-year player from Slovakia, had his first three-assist game.
“Rohac,” Clark said, “was really good. He made some great passes.”
Frazer McLaren, Kevin Undershute, Viktor Sjodin and Tyler Swystun scored for Portland (1-8-0-0), which led 2-1 after one period and trailed 4-3 after two.
Kamloops goaltender James Priestner, 16, made his second start of the season — he shut out visiting Portland 4-0 on Sept. 30 in the other — and made 16 saves.
“He looked 16 tonight,” Clark said. “Things happen pretty quick in this building.”
At the other end, Jordan White stopped 37 shots.
The Blazers (4-4-1-0) are 1-1-1-0 on their U.S. Division swing which concludes Tuesday in Kennewick, Wash., against the Tri-City Americans.
“We played two pretty good games in Everett (a 4-3 overtime loss) and Seattle,” Clark said. “But we’ve got too many guys who think they are the same guy.”
In other words, the Blazers are being dragged down by players who don’t seem to understand their roles — players, Clark said, who are upset because they aren’t on the power play.
“Guys are (ticked) off for the wrong reasons,” Clark said.
On Saturday, right-winger Josh Schappert caught the Blazers pinching and broke in alone to score and break a 1-1 tie.
Puustinen scored for the Blazers early in the third period, after centre Jeremy Boyer had a late second-period power-play goal for the Thunderbirds.
Kamloops goaltender Justin Leclerc stopped 27 shots, three more than Seattle’s Riku Helenius.
Seattle was 1-for-8 on the power play.
JUNIOR JOTTINGS: The Blazers’ power play went into the game at 12.2 per cent and finished the night at 18.2. . . . Nixon has 13 points and is three off the WHL scoring lead, which is shared by Medicine Hat Tigers C Tyler Ennis and Swift Current Broncos D Michael Wilson.