The Portland Winthawks ended their road trip on a sour note as they fell to the Everett Silvertips 10-3 Friday night. Of the seven away games in a row for Winterhawks, Portland was only able to earn one point toward their overall standings. The last time Portland gave up ten goals in a match was September 16th, 2022 in a pre-season game against the Spokane Chiefs.
The first period saw the Everett Silvertips getting the early advantage. Roughly five and a half minutes into the game, the Silvertips would score off a faceoff. Everett’s faceoff win would lead to a shot from the top of the zone, and Caden Zaplitny would find the rebound to give the Silvertips the first goal of the match.
Then a minute and ten seconds later, Everett would find another goal. Portland looked to clear their defensive zone. However, the long pass from the corner was intercepted by Ben Hemmerling. Hemmerling would turn with the puck and find Jesse Heslop between the faceoff circles. Heslop would shift around one defenseman and backhand the puck past Dante Giannuzzi to give Everett an early two-goal lead.
Portland did have an early goal to slow down some of the Silvertips’ momentum. Off a blocked shot, Ryan McCleary would send a pass toward the streaking Gabe Klassen. Klassen would corral the puck, but couldn’t shoot with the Everett defenseman draped behind him. Klassen would spin a full 360 degrees to gain some space. On the turn back toward the net, Klassen whipped a wrist shot that would sneak low inside the far post to cut the Silvertips lead in half.
Unfortunately for Portland, the Silvertips would find one more goal with just under two and a half minutes remaining in the period. Another shot from the point would get redirected Austin Roest, who was alone in front of the net. The deflection was enough to throw off Giannuzzi and give Everett a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.
The second period is where things got away from the Winterhawks. About five minutes into period two, Aidan Sutter would center a pass from just in front of the goal line extended. The pass would be redirected by Matthew Paszkiewicz and catch Giannuzzi shifting off the near post. Paszkiewicz would earn his first career goal in the WHL, and Everett would take a 4-1 lead.
Paszkiewicz’s goal was the start of a six-goal run for the Silvertips in the second period. Jackson Berezowski would score his 40th goal of the season on a 2-on-1 rush, 57 seconds after the Paszkiewicz goal. Ty Gibson would score on a shot from the point on the power play with roughly 11 minutes remaining in the period. Raphael Pelletier would get back-to-back power-play goals, one minute and five seconds apart. Lastly, Vincent Lamanna would score off a turnover right in front of Giannuzzi, to give Everett a 9-1 lead headed into the 3rd period.
The Winterhawks and the Silvertips both made goalie substitutions to start the third period. However, Portland still found themselves in penalty trouble in the third period. With 8:05 remaining in regulation, Beau Courtney would feed a pass to Zaplitny in front of the net. Zaplitny would jam the puck far side for Everett’s 10th goal of the night, and their 4th power-play goal.
The Winterhawks would end the game strong with two goals in the last 5:20 of play. The first of these goals was a beautiful one-timer slap shot from Gabe Klassen, off a cross-rink pass from Luca Cagnoni. The second goal came with 4:30 remaining in the period. Ryan McCleary struggled to maintain possession off a pass from Braeden Jockims from the far corner. McCleary would gather control just before the blue line, and then turn and weave his way past two defenders. McCleary could skate down inside the faceoff dot, and wrist a shot glove-side past Tim Metzger for the game’s final goal.
Portland’s next game is tonight against the Tri-City Americans with puck drop set for 6 p.m. It will be the first home game for the Winterhawks since February 11th.
Northwest Sports Desk 