The Seattle Thunderbirds came back from two two- and one-goal deficits to beat the Portland Winterhawks 6-5 in overtime Saturday night at the ShoWare Center.
Scott Eansor scored the game-winning goal with one second left in overtime.
Ethan Bear crossed the puck from the left point to Jerret Smith at the right point. Smith passed it low to Ryan Gropp, who sent it right back to Smith. Smith took a shot with Eansor in front of Portland goalie Adin Hill. The puck hit Hill and rebounded into the slot. Eansor spun around and chipped the puck into the net for the goal.
Portland defenseman Caleb Jones scored what the Winterhawks thought was the game-winning goal 1:14 into overtime. Jones was being hooked from behind as he went in alone on Seattle goalie Logan Flodell. Jones was falling and got off a shot that Flodell stopped. Jones then crashed into Flodell and the net, and the referee ruled the puck went in the net before the net came off its moorings.
The referees went to video review after the goal was scored. After a couple of minutes, the referees ruled that no goal was scored as the puck was pushed into the net by Jones’ glove.
The referees called a penalty on the play when Jones was hauled down. The teams were playing four-on-four on the game winning goal as the T-Birds had to kill off a penalty. There were no whistles from the time the penalty ended to get back to three-on-three overtime.
The T-Birds improved to 30-22-3-0, five points behind the first-place Everett Silvertips, who lost to the Victoria Royals on Saturday night.
The T-Birds put a season-high 54 shots on goal Saturday night.
Portland (28-25-3-0) took a 1-0 lead at 9:35 of the first period on a goal from Evan Weinger. They made it a 2-0 lead at 18:54 of the first on goal from Rodrigo Abols.
Seattle cut the Winterhawks lead to one 3:55 into the first period on Gropp’s 26th goal of the season.
The T-Birds tied the game 2-2 at 9:13 of the second on Alexander True’s goal.
Portland got the two-goal lead back with two goals in 57 seconds late in the second. Keoni Texeira scored at 17:24 and Alex Overhardt scored at 18:21.
The T-Birds came right back and erased their second two-goal deficit of the game with two goals in 1:12 early in the third period.
Donovan Neuls cut the Portland lead to one at 5:54 with a power-play goal.
The T-Birds tied the game 4-4 at 7:06 of the third on a Smith goal.
The Winterhawks took the lead back less than a minute later on a goal by Alex Schoenborn at 7:51 of the third.
The T-Birds came back a third time and tied the game 5-5 at 11:57 on a power-play goal by Gropp.
Flodell made 28 saves on 33 shots and his record is now 15-12-3-0.
Hill stopped 48 of 54 shots and his record is now 26-22-2-0.
Next: Victoria
The T-Birds host the Victoria Royals at 5:05 p.m. Sunday at the ShoWare Center at 5:05pm. The Royals have won 11 consecutive games.
Tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The box office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Portland, Weinger 8 (Abols, Daugherty), 9:35. 2, Portland, Abols 15 (De Jong, Turgeon), 18:54. Penalties – No penalties.
Second period – 3, Seattle, Gropp 26 (Barzal, Tyszka), 3:55. 4, Seattle, True 11 (Kolesar, Barzal), 9:13 (pp). 5, Portland, Texeira 8 (Schoenborn), 17:24. 6, Portland, Overhardt 7 (McKenzie, Texeira), 18:21. Penalties – Bear, Sea (high-sticking), 1:17. Jones, Por (holding), 8:21. Barzal, Sea (tripping), 12:26. Jones, Por (checking from behind), 13:20. Overhardt, Por (slashing), 16:13. Leth, Sea (roughing), 16:13. McKenzie, Por (roughing),18:48.
Third period – 7, Seattle, Neuls 10 (Smith, Volcan), 5:54 (pp). 8, Seattle, Smith 8 (Volcan, Leth), 7:06. 9, Portland, Schoenborn 20 (Jones), 7:51. 10, Seattle, Gropp 27 (Barzal, Bear), 11:57 (pp). Penalties – Dougherty, Por (slashing), 4:50. Dougherty, Por (tripping), 11:20. Dougherty, Por (interference), 13:38. Smith, Sea (elbowing), 16:25.
Overtime – 11, Seattle, Eansor 8 (Smith, Gropp), 4:59. Penalties – Barzal, Sea (holding), 1:14.
Shots on goal – Seattle 15-17-19-3 54, Portland 10-9-9-5 33. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 33 shots-28 saves (15-12-3-0); Portland, Hill 54-48 (26-22-2-0). Power plays – Seattle 3-6; Portland 0-4. A – 4,691. Referees – Tyler Adair, Colin Watt. Linesmen – Michael McGowan, Nathan Van Oosten.
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