Thunderbirds drop first preason game, 4-2 to Winterhawks

The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-2 Saturday afternoon in a preseason game at the Red Lion Hotels’ Preseason Tournament at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

This was the T-Birds’ second game at the tournament. They beat the Tri-City Americans 4-2 Friday night.

Seattle won all three of its games at the Everett Silvertips Preseason Tournament over Labor Day weekend and now have a 4-1-0-0 preseason record.

The T-Birds close out the preseason schedule with a home-and-home series against the Silvertips. The T-Birds visit Everett this Friday, Sept. 13, for a 7:35 puck drop against the Silvertips. The T-Birds then make their only pre-season appearance at ShoWare Center on Saturday, Sept. 14, for a 7:05 p.m. contest against the Silvertips. Single game tickets for the home preseason game are on sale.

Portland went in front 1-0 at 3:16 of the first period on a goal from Presten Kopeck. Adam Rossignol and Ethan Price had the assist.

The Winterhawks extended their lead to 2-0 on a power-play goal from Chase De Leo at 18:23 of the first. Shaun MacPherson had the only assist on the goal.

Seattle outshot Portland 9-6 in the first period.

Devon Fordyce started in net for the T-Birds and played 33 minutes. He made five saves on seven shots. Logan Flodell replaced Fordyce.

The T-Birds led in shots 17-14 after a scoreless second period.

Portland scored two goals less than two minutes apart in the middle of the third period to take a 4-0 lead. Alex Schoenborn scored at 7:48 and Ethan Price scored at 9:45.

The T-Birds cut the Winterhawks lead to two goals with two shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill. With Connor Honey in the penalty box Griffin Foulk scored at 16:17 and Scott Eansor scored at 17:03.

Portland outshot the T-Birds 37-28 in the game.

Flodell stopped 28 of 30 shots in just over 27 minutes of action.

Jarrod Schamerhorn played the entire game for Portland and stopped 26 of 28 shots.

Season opener Sept. 21

The T-Birds will drop the puck for the 2013-14 regular season against the Portland Winterhawks at ShoWare Center on Saturday, September 21 at 7:05pm.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2013-14 season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Portland, Kopeck 1 (Rossignol, Price), 3:16. 2, Portland, De Leo 4 (MacPherson), 18:23 (pp). Penalties – Pederson, Sea (hooking), 7:58. Hanson, Por (slashing), 14:10. Barzal, Sea (holding), 14:24. Hickman, Sea (tripping), 18:05.

Second period – No scoring. Penalties – McKenzie, Por (interference), 1:43. Schoenborn, Por (tripping), 4:42. Turgeon, Por (tripping), 9:39. Douglas, Sea (tripping), 12:45. Schoenborn, Por (elbowing), 15:41. Texeira, Por (holding), 16:42. Smith, Sea (tripping), 18:14.

Third period – 3, Portland, Schoenborn 2 (MacPherson, Rossignol), 7:48. 4, Portland, Price 2 (Kopeck, Rossignol), 9:45. 5, Seattle, Foulk 1 (Sheen), 16:17 (sh). 6, Seattle, Eansor 1 (Swenson), 17:03 (sh). Penalties – De Leo, Por (tripping), 2:45. Allridge, Por (major-fighting, game misconduct) 11:12. Folk, Sea (major-fighting, game misconduct),11:12. Honey, Sea (unsportsmanlike conduct), 15:12. Iverson, Por (roughing, game misconduct), 17:32. Hickman, Sea (roughing, game misconduct), 17:32. Swenson, Sea (slashing), 18:08. Schoenborn, Por (roughing), 19:22. Wolf, Sea (roughing), 19:22.

Shots on goal – Seattle 9-8-11 28, Portland 6-8-23 37. Goalies – Seattle, Fordyce 7 shots-5 saves, Flodell 30-28 (1-1-0-0); Portland, Schamerhorn 28-26 (1-1-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-7; Portland 1-7. Referees – Mike Langin, Fraser Lawrence. Linesmen – Jeremi Del Campo, Eric Nyberg.