The Portland Winterhawks (46-17-3-1) fell 5-1 in a road contest against the Kamloops Blazers (45-17-2-3) Wednesday.

The Winterhawks struck first for the only goal of the opening frame when Brendan Leipsic scored his 27th goal of the season at the 8:05 mark to give the Hawks a 1-0 lead.

After a scoreless second period the Hawks took their 1-0 lead into the third. Kamloops evened the game at the 3:22 mark on a goal by Colin Smith to make it 1-1. A few minutes later the Blazers got goals 1:29 apart from Chase Souto and Jordan DePape to take a 3-1 lead. Brandon Herrod added a late empty net goal and Ryan Hanes also scored late as Kamloops finished with the 5-1 win.

Mac Carruth made 39 saves on the 43 Kamloops shots he faced. His Kamloops counterpart, Cole Cheveldave, stopped 24 of 25 Portland shots.

The Hawks were a perfect 5-5 on the penalty kill and 0-2 on the power play.

Portland was without Sven Bartschi for this game, who was recalled by the Calgary Flames on an emergency basis for their game Friday against Winnipeg.

The Hawks are back in action Friday when they travel to Everett to take on the Silvertips at 7:35 p.m.