Hawks Take 3-0 advantage on Tri-Cities

April 26, 2012, 8:14 am

The Portland Winterhawks won Game 3 of the Western Conference Final 3-1 over the Tri-City Americans, taking a 3-0 series lead Wednesday in front of 7,716 fans at the Rose Garden.

The Hawks will have a chance to close out the series tomorrow when the two teams play Game 4 at 7 p.m. in the Rose Garden.

Mac Carruth stopped 38 of the 39 shots he faced in the win, while Ty Rattie tied the franchise record for career playoff goals.

Tri-Cities opened the scoring 1:16 into the game when Adam Hughesman scored a power play goal to give the Americans a 1-0 lead, which would stand as the lone goal of the first period, and would end up as their only goal of the game.

The Winterhawks evened the game midway through the second when Marcel Noebels picked the pocket of an Americans player and fired a shot past Tri-Cities netminder Ty Rimmer to tie the game at 1-1, which would remain the score going into the third period.

The Hawks dominated the early going of the third period, and were finally rewarded at the 11:21 mark when Ty Rattie scored his 17th of the playoffs on a power play to give the Hawks a 2-1 lead. It was also Rattie’s 28th career postseason goal, tying Randy Heath for the franchise record.

Late in the game, with Americans netminder Ty Rimmer on the bench for an extra attacker, Brad Ross scored the insurance goal to give the Hawks the 3-1 win.

The Hawks held a 47-39 advantage in shots on goal, including 20-6 in the third period.

Both teams were 1-6 on the power play in the game.