The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-4 in a Western Hockey League game Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland.
The T-Birds travel to Prince George to play the Cougars in back-to-back games on Tuesday and Wednesday. The puck drops for both games at 7 p.m.
Portland (26-13-1-2) took a 1-0 lead 58 seconds into the first period on a power-play goal by Cody Glass. Skyler McKenzie and Kiefer Bellows had the assists.
The Winterhawks made it 2-0 on McKenzie’s penalty shot goal at 6:12 of the first. The T-Birds were on the power play when McKenzie was tripped on a shorthanded breakaway.
McKenzie scored on a two-on-one break at 8:09 of the second period. Right after scoring, McKenzie ran over Seattle goalie Liam Hughes, who was down on the ice for several minutes being looked at team athletic trainer Phil Varney. Dorrin Luding came on and replaced Hughes.
Hughes finished with 14 saves on 17 shots.
Seattle (20-16-4-2) cut the Portland lead to two goals at 8:41 of the second. Samuel Huo skated into the Portland zone with Dillon Hamaliuk on his left. Huo fought off a check from a Portland defenseman and crossed the puck to Hamaliuk, who snapped it past Portland goalie Shane Farkas.
The T-Birds made it a 3-2 game at 10:04 of the second. Zack Andrusiak got a loose puck along the left-wing wall in the Portland zone to create a two-on-one with Donovan Neuls. Andrusiak passed the puck from the left circle to Neuls in the right circle. Neuls one-timed the pass and beat Farkas high for his 14th goal of the season.
Portland took a 4-2 lead on a power-play goal by Joachim Blichfeld at 13:46 of the second. Glass had the only assist.
Ryan Hughes scored at 17:51 of the second to put Portland back in front by two goals. Dennis Cholowski had the only assist.
Portland led 25-16 in shots after two periods by outshooting Seattle 11-10 in the second period.
Hamaliuk scored his second goal of the game at 2:25 of the third period to cut Portland’s lead to two goals. Owen Williams kept a Portland clearing attempt in at the left point. Williams moved the puck to Hamaliuk, who skated into the slot. Hamaliuk beat Farkas low for his 10th goal of the season.
The T-Birds pulled Luding for an extra attacker with 1:51 left in the game. They capitalized 10 seconds later when Nolan Volcan put back a rebound. Neuls passed the puck to Turner Ottenbreit at center ice inside the blue line. Ottenbreit took a slap shot that Farkas stopped with his right pad. Volcan was on top of the crease and swept the puck past the goalie for his 18th goal of the season.
Seattle pulled Luding a second time, looking for the tying goal, but was not able to find it.
Portland outshot Seattle 14-11 in the third period and 39-27 in the game.
Luding had 20 saves on 22 shots and his record is 3-10-1-0. Farkas made 23 saves on 27 shots and his record is 5-4-0-0.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Portland, Glass 24 (McKenzie, Bellows), :58 (pp). 2, McKenzie 30, 6:12 (sh/pen). Penalties – Wedman, Sea (cross checking), :37. Glass, Por (hooking), 4:35. Strand, Sea (hooking), 6:12. Overhardt, Por (interference), 15:10.
Second period – 3, Portland, McKenzie 31 (Bellows), 8:09. 4, Seattle, Hamaliuk 9 (Huo), 8:41. 5, Seattle, Neuls 14 (Andrusiak), 10:04. 6, Portland, Blichfeld 14 (Glass), 13:46 (pp). 7, Portland, Hughes 7 (Cholowski), 17:51. Penalties – MacLean, Sea (boarding), 2:47. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 12:05. Mannek, Por (slashing), 15:24.
Third period – 8, Seattle, Hamaliuk 10 (Williams), 2:25. 9, Seattle, Volcan 18 (Ottenbreit, Neuls), 18:19. Penalties – Strand, Sea (roughing), 6:11. Tyszka, Sea (roughing), 6:11. Blichfeld, Por (roughing), 6:11. Hughes, Por (roughing), 6:11. McKenzie, Por (hooking), 7:32. Moilanen, Sea (roughing), 8:07. De Jong, Por (roughing), 8:07. Lee, Sea (major-fighting), 14:27. Kolle, Por (major-fighting), 14:27.
Shots on goal – Seattle 6-10-11 27, Portland 14-11-14 39. Goalies – Seattle, Hughes 17 shots-14 saves, Luding 22-20 (3-10-1-0); Portland, Farkas 27-23 (5-4-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-4; Portland 2-3. A – 8,622. Referees – Kevin Bennett, Kyle Kowalski. Linesmen – Nick Bilko, Michael McGowan.
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