The Portland Winterhawks lose to the Seattle Thunderbirds 4-3 on a shorthanded goal in the closing minutes by Coster Dunn.
The Winterhawks had only allowed one shorthanded goal all season, best in the league, but picked a poor time to give up their second.
It gives both Portland and Seattle splits of their two games for the weekend.
| 1st 5:10 SEA Matej Pekar (Radim Mrtka, Kaleb Hartmann) 0-1 | Mrtka from center ice throws a hard wide shot that takes a hard bounce off the end boards that bounces in front and right to Pekar, who split a slow-to-react Tyson Jugnauth and Carter Sotheran. Marek Schlenker stops his shot but the rebound comes right back to him and he scores. |
| 1st 13:07 POR Jordan Duguay (Alex Weiermair) 1-1 | Duguay wrists one in from the inside edge of the right circle, a few seconds after missing the net from the slot. Weiermair collected the rebound off the boards of the first shot and got it to Duguay. |
| 2nd 5:09 SEA Nathan Pilling (Braeden Cootes, Radim Mrtka) 1-2 | Cootes partly fans on a one-timer of a pass by Mrtka, which fools Schlenker. He can’t control the shot and the rebound goes right to Pilling at the post. |
| 2nd 10:44 POR (PP) Kyle Chyzowski (Diego Buttazzoni, Tyson Jugnauth) 2-2 | From the right circle, Buttazzoni one-times a pass from Jugnauth, and Chyzowski at the top of the crease deflects it in. |
| 3rd 6:15 SEA (PP) Radim Mrtka (Braeden Cootes, Nathan Pilling) 2-3 | Mrtka finds the net from straight on, just in front of the blue line, on the power play. Pilling and Cootes passed it to him previously. Possibly hit a Portland player on the way. |
| 3rd 13:14 POR Jordan Duguay (Alex Weiermair, Cole Slobodian) 3-3 | Slobodian’s long shot is stopped by Scott Razlaff, but the rebound goes right to Weiermair at the side of the net, and he passes it across the crease to a wide open Duguay for a slam dunk. |
| 3rd 16:15 SEA (SH) Coster Dunn (Sam Charko) 3-4 | A great play by Dunn to win the game, as well as some poor defense by the Winterhawks. Dunn steals the puck at center ice from Jugnauth, bounces off attempts by Chyzowski and Buttazzoni to knock him off the puck, dodges a Jugnauth reach-in, throws it on the back of the net, beats Buttazzoni to the rebound, tries a wraparound that rebounds to Charko, and then with Charko keeping the puck alive, gets to the loose puck and slides it in from a bad angle. Portland players couldn’t get it as it bounced around, and Charko did a good job to tie up Jugnauth when he had a chance at it. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 0:00 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 0:00 |
| Tied | 35:44 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 24:16 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Pregame: The Winterhawks starting the first of their seven games left against the Thunderbirds this regular season. Portland made the overnight trip from Vancouver after a win that was important for their playoff positioning. Seattle, although playing well lately, were coming off a blowout home loss against Spokane, and missing four players who would be in the lineup if available.
1st period: An entertaining period where play was about 50-50 and the goals were split. Which was probably a win for the Thunderbirds, who won the shots 15-12.
2nd period: Another even period, or maybe a slight edge to Seattle, as they ran their shot edge to 29-21. Portland did miss the net on some good chances which would have made the shots closer.
3rd period: Another even period, with Seattle getting the power play goal to take the lead and then Portland tying it right before you really started to feel the sense of urgency. Then the Winterhawks got a late power play and handed the game away with Coster Dunn’s shorthanded goal. That was the Thunderbirds’ last shot of the game; Portland outshot them 5-0 the rest of the way and had at least three prime chances that missed the net, but couldn’t tie it.
How it was won: 1) Portland’s inability to hit the net on a lot of chances. They trailed Seattle in shots by between 4 and 8 much of the game, and missing the net was the difference. They probably had more quality chances as well.
2) That said, it was a good performance by Seattle’s defensemen, missing two regulars and pretty much only playing five, as their 15-year-old 6th defenseman didn’t play much. Likely NHL 1st-rounder Radim Mrtka led the way and had 3 points.
3) Coster Dunn and Sam Charko making the big play for the game-winning shorthanded goal.
Key stretch/moment: The game-winning shorthanded goal.
Surprising: Portland only giving up their 2nd shorthanded goal of the season is an obvious one. Also, this was the Winterhawks’ first loss of the season when tied after 2 periods; they were 6-0. They’re the last team in the league to lose a game after being tied after 2.
Not surprising: In the end, Portland outshooting Seattle. But they had to go on a 5-shot run at the end to do it, after trailing in shots most of the game.
Controversies: Nothing really.
Best team won?: 50/50 game.
Injuries/suspensions: Seattle overcame injuries to three regulars and a suspension to Simon Lovsin.
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Radim Mrtka | SEA | 1 goal, 2 assists | 3 points and helped anchor a young and journeyman Seattle defense. Now had 5 points in 2 games against the Winterhawks. |
| Coster Dunn | SEA | 1 goal | A great play for the winner. |
| Jordan Duguay | POR | 2 goals | His 2nd career 2-goal game. |
| Scott Ratzlaff | SEA | 36 saves-39 shots | Rebounded from getting the hook in Friday’s game. |
| Braeden Cootes | SEA | 2 assists | Will pick up his 2nd assist when the scoring plays are reviewed. Dangerous all game. |
| Alex Weiermair | POR | 2 assists | Primary assist on both Duguay goals. |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 1 assist | 6-game point streak. Was good on defense most of the game as well, but then had a part in the Dunn shorthanded goal. |
| Matej Pekar | SEA | 1 goal | The opening goal as he got behind Portland’s defense. |
| Nathan Pilling | SEA | 1 goal, 1 assist | A rebound goal and a secondary assist on Mrtka’s goal. Could have been the goat with his late penalty, but it ended up working out very well for the Thunderbirds. |
| Cole Slobodian | POR | 1 assist | Played a lot more than he usually does, and played well, except for a penalty that Seattle scored on in the 3rd to take the lead. But then his shot from the blue line generated a rebound for the tying goal. |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Marek Schlenker | POR | 33 saves-37 shots | He was OK. Two of the goals were off rebounds, one of them bad, and he got beat on a shot from the blue line that might have hit someone. |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 6-game point streak snapped. | |
| Hayden Pakkala | SEA | 3-game point streak snapped. |
| Winterhawks | Thunderbirds | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 28-19-2-1 (.590) | 19-28-2-1 (.410) |
| Goals/game | 4.0 | 3.0 |
| Goals allowed/game | 4.0 | 4.2 |
| Team shooting % | .113 | .095 |
| Team save % | .884 | .881 |
| Power play | 26.3% | 19.5% |
| Penalty kill | 76.3% | 74.3% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.2 | 3.5 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.7 | 4.3 |
| Outshooting opponents | 22-26-2 | 15-31-4 |
| After 1 period | 15-20-15 | 10-28-12 |
| After 2 periods | 20-23-7 | 12-30-8 |
| Score, last 10 games | 36-41 (-5) | 37-37 (0) |
| Score, last 20 games | 86-81 (+5) | 66-80 (-14) |
Portland Winterhawks
A tough loss but not the end of the world. All the teams around them in the standings won. They’re 3 points ahead of Vancouver, 4 ahead of Tri-City, and now 7 behind Prince George. No need to panic unless they lose both games next weekend.
Seattle Thunderbirds
The win puts them in a tie for the last playoff spot in the West. They have two games at Wenatchee coming up in the next 2 weeks, which might be decisive.
Friday 2/14 at Wenatchee, 7pm PST
Saturday 2/15 at Seattle, 6pm PST
Next home game: Monday 2/17 vs. Seattle, 3pm PST
Looking ahead: Friday 2/21 at Everett, 7pm PST