The Portland Winterhawks started their triple header weekend with a 3-2 overtime loss against the Seattle Thunderbirds Friday night. With the loss and Spokane’s win over Vancouver, the Winterhawks have fallen to seventh place in the Western Conference standings. Entering the match, the Winterhawks were 3-1 against Seattle this season. This was also the third of four meetings between the two teams this month. The last time these two played, was Feb. 7, when the Winterhawks won 3-2 in Overtime at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
It was a tight first period that saw Portland grabbing an early lead at the accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington. Just 2:35 into the game, the Winterhawks looked to break out of their zone with a pass from Griffin Darby to Sam Spehar at center ice. Spehar would then pass the puck over to his right for Carsyn Dyck, who would cross over into the offensive zone. Dyck then slowed down, drawing the near defenseman in, and passed the puck back over to Spehar at the top of the faceoff circle. Spehar then quickly fired a wrist shot from the faceoff dot that would fly low past the blocker of Thunderbirds goaltender, Grayson Malinoski. Sam Spehar’s tenth goal of the season would put the Winterhawks up 1-0.
The Thunderbirds would then respond on the first penalty of the game. A slashing call with 8:12 remaining in the period set Seattle up on the power-play. Although Seattle lost the offensive zone draw, a pass behind the net would ricochet and allow the Thunderbirds forwards to forecheck. Antonio Martorana would stick lift the defender, and poke the puck over to Coster Dunn near the boards. Dunn then immediatley passed the puck towards the near faceoff dot, where Cameron Schmidt was circleling. Schmidt wound up a wrist shot, and rifled the puck inside the far post. The puck beat Portland goaltender Ondrej Štěbeták blocker side, and the Thunderbirds power-play would only take six seconds to tie the game at 1-1.
The second period saw the tie break just inside four minutes into the action. After a long shot from the blue line by Will McLaughlin, the puck would bounce to the corner for Ryan Miller. Miller would grab the puck, and then wheel around to the top of the zone. As he skated from right to left, a Seattle defender without a stick came out to cut down the Miller’s angle. Seeing a lane, Miller powered a wrist shot past the approaching defender, looking to beat Malinoski to the far post side. However, traffic in front of the net would redirect the puck back behind Malinoski, and Miller would collect his 23rd goal of the season.
Miller’s goal would hold until 9:21 was left in the third period. As the Thunderbirds broke out of their defensive zone, Matthew Gard would recieve a pass and split Portland’s forwards to enter the neutral zone. From there, Gard backhanded a pass across the rink that would cross the offensive blue line and bank off the far boards. There to recieve Gard’s pass was Matej Pekar, who would be driven wide of the net by Portland’s defenseman. However, as Pekar looked to skate behind the goal, he would center a pass to the slot where Gard had found some space. With all of Portland’s defense sloughed down to the top of the crease, Gard’s one timer would find a line under the blocker of Štěbeták, which tied the game at 2-2.
The match would require overtime to find a winner, but it was a quick fourth period. Just over a minute into the extra action, Ryan Miller would skate into the offensive zone. With speed, Miller looked to jump cut from his right to his left and look for a potential shot on goal. Unfortunately for Miller, as he made his jump cut, the puck would just barely slide out of reach of his stick. Spotting the loss of control, Matthew Gard would shift over and pop the puck up the middle of the ice. With both Winterhawks teammates waiting on the wings as support, Cameron Schmidt would win the foot race to the puck and be all alone on a breakaway. Schmidt started initially drifting to his right as he approached Štěbeták. Then as Schmidt went between the faceoff circles, he threw in a shoulder fake and switched to his backhand. Štěbeták did his best to stay with Schmidt, but Schmidt was able to elevate his shot up and over the outstreched leg of Štěbeták. Schmidt’s 40th goal of the season would be the game winner, and the Winterhawks would lose 3-2.
Portland has two games left in this triple header weekend. On Saturday Portland travels to the Langley Events Centre for a showdown against the Vancouver Giants. Then on Sunday the Winterhawks return home to Veterans Memorial Coliseum for a rematch against the Seattle Thunderbirds. Puck drop on Saturday is at 7:00 p.m. and Sunday at 4:00 p.m.
Northwest Sports Desk 