The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 10-2 Tuesday night at the Moda Center in Portland.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Portland (16-4-1-1) got goals from five different players in the first period to jump take a 5-0 lead after 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Brendan Leipsic, Paul Bittner, Chase De Leo, Derrick Pouliot and Nic Petan had the first period goals for the Winterhawks. Seattle goalie Justin Myles (6-4-0-0) started the game but was replaced by Danny Mumaugh after the fourth Portland goal of the first period. Myles ended with 8 saves on 12 shots in just over 14 minutes of action.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Bittner scored at 6:04 of second period to get his second goal of the game and give the Winterhawks a 6-1 lead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle (11-8-0-2) got on the board at 13:35 of the second period. Keegan Kolesar brought the puck out from behind the Portland net and found Shea Theodore at the left point. Theodore took a slap shot that beat Portland goalie Brendan Burke for his 11th goal of the season. Austin Douglas had the second assist on the goal for his first WHL point.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Taylor Leier, Bittner and Oliver Bjorkstrand scored in the first six minutes of the third period to give Portland a 9-1 lead.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Justin Hickman scored a power-play goal at 8:43 of the third to get the T-Birds second goal. Scott Eansor and Theodore had the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
De Leo scored at 17:34 of the third to get the Winterhawks final goal of the game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Portland outshot Seattle 49-26 in the game.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mumaugh stopped 31 of 37 shots in just over 45 minutes of action.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Burke made 24 saves on 26 shots and his record is now 14-3-1-1.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Prior to the game the T-Birds released 20-year-old center Erik Benoit. Benoit was acquired on waivers from the Saskatoon Blades on September 18. In 19 games with the T-Birds this season he had eight points on three goals and five assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The T-Birds travel to Victoria for back-to-back games against the Royals on Friday and Saturday. Friday’s game is at 7:35 p.m. and Saturday’s game is at 7:05 p.m. There next home game is Tuesday against the Kelowna Rockets at ShoWare Center at 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n