Winterhawks handle T-Birds, 5-2 | WHL

For the Reporter

The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-2 in Western Hockey League play Friday night at the ShoWare Center.

Portland (52-13-2-3) sits second in the Western Conference race, while Seattle (40-24-2-4) is tied for fourth with Spokane in the standings, each with 86 points.

There are two regular-season games left for Seattle, one for Spokane. Seattle holds the tiebreaker for fourth in the conference in lieu of their 7-1-0-0 record against the Chiefs this year.

Seattle closes the regular season with two road games – 7 p.m. Friday at Portland and 5:05 p.m. Sunday at Tri-City. The Chiefs play the Tri-City Americans on Saturday night in Kennewick.

Seattle needs three points out of a possible four in the remaining two games to clinch the fourth spot in the West and home ice in the first round of the playoffs.

Against Portland, Taran Kozun (18-28-2-2) stopped 46 of 51 shots faced but took the loss. Brendan Burke got his 33rd win of the season, stopping 30 of 32 shots in the game.

Portland jumped out to a 3-0 lead before the Thunderbirds responded in the second period. Mathew Barzal received a pass along the red line and zipped it through three defenders on his backhand to Ryan Gropp, who buried the puck into the net as Burke attempted to slide across. Adam Henry had the secondary assist on the goal coming at 16:27.

Seattle put the pressure on Portland immediately and scored just 1:11 into the third period. Shea Theodore took a shot from the point that was tipped in by Roberts Lipsbergs, giving him his 33rd goal of the season. Branden Troock had the secondary assist on the goal that made it 3-2 Portland.

But Oliver Bjorkstrand scored soon thereafter to make it a two-goal game again in Portland’s favor. Bjorkstrand recovered the puck from a possession battle in the middle of the offensive zone and fired it through Kozun’s five hole for his second goal of the night. Taylor Leier and Josh Hanson had the assists at 2:47.

The visitors took the period’s first penalty at 5:49. The infraction gave Seattle a man advantage and the chance to get it back to a one-goal game. The T-Birds could not get much of anything started though, with the Winterhawks stopping the rush at every turn and clearing the puck almost continually. Chase De Leo was stopped by Kozun on a shorthanded breakaway opportunity during the home team’s power play, the best chance of the two minutes that saw Seattle go without a shot on goal.

Taylor Leier scored for Portland at 9:54, making it a 5-2 game. The T-Birds had a 2-on-2 rush ending with Burke fighting off Barzal’s shot. The rebound went straight to Bjorkstrand, who fed it to Leier on the rush. Bjorkstrand had the only assist after Leier beat Kozun over the goalie’s shoulder.

A major penalty went against the T-Birds at 10:18, giving Portland five minutes of power-play time. The home team fought off a handful of tough chances, with Scott Eansor painfully blocking a slap shot from the point1:30 into the penalty.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Portland, Dumba 7 (Iverson, Schoenborn), 12:56. Penalties – Wardley, Seattle (double minor- roughing), 5:05. Leipsic, Portland (roughing), 5:05. Petan, Portland (tripping), 5:05. Leipsic, Portland (slashing), 8:56. Gropp, Seattle (boarding), 14:43. Leipsic, Portland (slashing), 15:26. Texeira, Portland (holding the stick), 18:59.

Second period – 2, Portland, Leipsic 39 (Bjorkstrand, Petan), 3:41 (pp). 3, Portland, Bjorkstrand 46 (unassisted), 5:12. 4, Seattle, Gropp 18 (Barzal, Henry), 16:27. Penalties – Barzal, Seattle (interference), 3:11. Lipsbergs, Seattle (high-sticking), 6:26. Wardley, Seattle (10-minute misconduct), 6:26. Yakubowski, Seattle (hooking), 12:30.

Third period – 5, Seattle, Lipsbergs 33 (Theodore, Troock), 1:11. 6, Portland, Bjorkstrand 47 (Leier, Hanson), 2:47. 7, Portland, Leier 34 (Bjorkstrand), 9:54. Penalties – Petan, Portland (boarding), 5:49. Troock, Seattle (major-charging), 10:18. Troock, Seattle (game misconduct), 10:18. Schoenborn, Portland (hooking), 13:04. Hauf, Seattle (10-minute misconduct), 17:50. Iverson, Portland (10-minute misconduct), 17:50. Hanson, Portland (cross-checking), 18:52.

Shots on goal – Seattle 9-9-14 32, Portland 13-14-24 51. Goalies – Seattle, Kozun 51 shots-46 saves (18-28-2-2); Portland, Burke 32-30 (32-10-2-2).Power plays – Seattle 0-5; Portland 1-5. A – 6,150. Referees – Jeff Ingram, Derek Zalaski. Linesmen – Justin Hull, Mark Heier.