Ethan Bear had two goals and two assists to ignite the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-3 Western Hockey League win over the Portland Winterhawks at the ShoWare Center on Saturday night.
Bear has an eight-game point streak with seven goals and 10 assists in the last eight games.
The T-Birds are in second place in the U.S. Division and in third place in the Western Conference, three points behind the Everett Silvertips, who have a game in hand for both top spots. The T-Birds are also one point behind the Prince George Cougars, with two games in hand, for second place in the conference.
The T-Birds are in Portland on Sunday for a 5 p.m. game at Veterans Memorial Arena.
Seattle (37-17-3-2) took a 1-0 lead at 19:20 of the first period on a four-on-four goal by Ethan Bear. Turner Ottenbreit passed the puck to Ryan Gropp on the left wing on a break up ice. Gropp centered the puck to Bear who skated into the left circle. Bear beat Portland goalie Shane Farkas over the glove for his 24th goal of the season.
Gropp now has a 16-game point streak with the assist on the T-Birds’ first goal. Gropp has 13 goals and 21 assists in the last 16 games.
Seattle outshot Portland 14-9 in the first period.
Portland (32-24-1-2) tied the game 1-1 at 1:08 of the second period on Henri Jokiharju’s power-play goal.
The T-Birds took the lead back at 3:36 of the second on Bear’s second goal of the game, just after a power play ended. Mathew Barzal passed the puck to Keegan Kolesar in the right circle. Kolesar crossed the puck to Bear in the left circle. Farkas went down on the pass thinking shot and Bear had a wide-open net.
The Winterhawks tied the game 2-2 at 8:29 of the second on a four-on-four goal by Caleb Jones.
Portland outshot Seattle 13-9 in the second period. The T-Birds had a 23-22 lead in shots after two periods.
Portland took a 3-2 lead at 3:20 of the third period on Keegan Iverson’s goal.
The T-Birds tied the game 3-3 at 9:50 of the third on the power play. Bear took a slap shot from the mid-point that Donovan Neuls tipped past Farkas for his 12th goal of the season. Barzal had the second assist on the tying goal.
Tyler Adams put in a backhand pass from Neuls to give T-Birds a 4-3 lead at 13:13 of the third. Sami Moilanen took a shot that was blocked and he pushed the loose puck to Neuls to the right of the net. Neuls no look pass set up Adams with an open net and he converted for his third goal of the year.
The T-Birds added an insurance goal at 14:42 of the third. Bear made a stretch pass to Kolesar at the Portland blue line. Kolesar came into the Portland zone with Gropp on his left. Kolesar crossed the puck to Gropp who beat Farkas over the blocker with a wrist shot.
The T-Birds outshot the Winterhawks 9-6 in the third period and 32-28 in the game.
Seattle goalie Rylan Toth had 25 saves on 28 shots and his record is now 31-16-1-1.
Farkas made 27 saves on 32 shots and his record is now 3-3-0-0.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Bear 24 (Gropp, Ottenbreit), 19:20. Penalties – Gilliss, Por (tripping), 2:28. Moilanen, Sea (hooking), 11:15. Glass, Por (roughing), 15:48. Moilanen, Sea (roughing), 15:48. Hughes, Por (holding), 16:17. Neuls, Sea (roughing), 18:58. De Jong, Por (roughing), 18:58.
Second period – 2, Portland, Jokiharju 8 (Iverson, Glass), 1:08 (pp). 3, Seattle, Bear 25 (Kolesar, Barzal), 3:36. 4, Portland, Jones 6 (Iverson), 8:29. Penalties – Kolesar, Sea (slashing), ;22. Blichfeld, Por (high-sticking), 1:32. Kolesar, Sea (checking from behind), 7:18. Jokiharju, Por (cross checking), 7:18. Texeira, Por (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:29. Moilanen, Sea (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:29. Quigley, Por (roughing), 16:20. Adams, Sea (roughing), 16:20. De Jong, Por (interference), 18:24.
Third period – 5, Portland, Iverson 17 (Jones), 3:20. 6, Seattle, Neuls 12 (Bear, Barzal), 9:50. 7, Seattle, Adams 3 (Neuls, Moilanen), 13:13. 8, Seattle, Gropp 25 (Kolesar, Bear), 14:42. Penalties – Ormsby, Sea (tripping), 2:26. McKenzie, Por (slashing), 3:06. Weinger, Por (checking to the head), 8:57.
Shots on goal – Seattle 14-9-9 32, Portland 9-13-6 28. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 28 shots-25 saves (31-16-1-1); Portland, Farkas 32-27 (3-3-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-3; Portland 1-6. A – 5,702. Referees – Kevin Bennett, Steve Papp. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Mark Heier.
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