Looking to become more of a thorn in the Portland Winterhawks side at the Rose Garden, Victoria Royals head coach Dave Lowry instead received more of the same on Saturday night.

Just 24 hours after dropping a 6-2 result in which his team led, Lowry got a repeat performance on the road, failing to hang on to a 2-0 lead and losing by the same 6-2 score to one of the Western Hockey Leagues hottest clubs.

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Once again, we started out really well, said Lowry.

But we just lost to a very good team. A very deep team and we just couldnt match them tonight.

Jamie Crooks and Alex Gogolev gave the Royals a 2-0 lead midway through the first period before the Hawks roared back, handing Victoria its fourth straight defeat.

You know, were losing to good hockey teams and we just have to stick together and pull out of it, insisted Lowry.

Keegan Iverson made it 2-1 with 6:30 left in the first and sniper Ty Rattie tied it at 2-2 early in the second to stretch his point streak to 10 games. Troy Rutkowski, with a pair, Brendan Leipsic and Nicolas Petan also scored for Portland, which led 3-2 after 40 minutes.

Coleman Vollrath drew the starting assignment in net for the Royals, while Mac Carruth earned the victory for Portland.

It doesnt get any easier for the Royals who continue the road trip back north of the 49th parallel into Alberta with a date in Lethbridge against the Hurricanes on Wednesday, followed by stops in Calgary on Friday and Medicine Hat on Saturday. They return home to play host to the Everett Silvertips on Fri., Nov. 16.

mannicchiarico@timescolonist.com

Twitter/tc_vicsports