The Portland Winterhawks jump on the Seattle Thunderbirds for 5 goals in the 1st period on their way to a 7-4 win, but don’t get the outside help they need and are knocked out of contention for top seed in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference.
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The Winterhawks took a 5-0 lead in the 1st and were never seriously threatened afterward, although Seattle twice cut the margin to three goals.
Diego Buttazzoni had three points, all in the decisive period, as did Luca Cagnoni.
Portland needed the Kamloops Blazers to beat the Prince George Cougars to keep their chances alive. Kamloops tied the game 2-2 in the 3rd period, but Prince George scored the last three for a 5-2 win and will take on 8th seed Spokane in the 1st round of the playoffs.
As the number two seed, Portland is locked in to face the Victoria Royals in the 1st round. The series will follow a 2-3-2 format because of the travel to the island. Friday and Saturday are in Portland; Tuesday, Wednesday and the next Friday are in Victoria.
First, the Winterhawks have a game Sunday, a road rematch with Seattle in the final game of the regular season, that won’t have any impact on the standings.
Scoring summary
| 2:03 POR Diego Buttazzoni 1-0 |
| 6:14 POR Tyson Yaremko (Ryan Miller) 2-0 |
| 8:00 POR Luca Cagnoni (Diego Buttazzoni, Nate Danielson) 3-0 |
| 12:16 POR Marek Alscher (Diego Buttazzoni, Tyson Jugnauth) 4-0 |
| 14:35 POR Jack O’Brien (Tyson Jugnauth, Nate Danielson) 5-0 |
| 21:27 SEA Simon Lovsin (Nishaan Parmar, Nathan Pilling) 5-1 |
| 33:21 SEA (PP) Jeremy Hanzel (Nico Myatovic, Braeden Cootes) 5-2 |
| 34:13 POR Luca Cagnoni (Josh Zakreski, Kyle Chyzowski) 6-2 |
| 36:44 POR James Stefan (Luca Cagnoni, Gabe Klassen) 7-2 |
| 42:23 SEA (SH) Kazden Mathies 7-3 |
| 54:46 SEA (PP) Jordan Gustafson (Nico Myatovic, Jeremy Hanzel) 7-4 |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 53:46 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 4:11 |
| Tied | 2:03 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 0:00 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Narratives
Pregame: After the tough loss away to Tri-City, the Winterhawks were trying to keep their chances at the top seed alive. The Thunderbirds were trying to play spoiler again against their rival after handing them a bitter defeat last Sunday. A large part of that was Portland’s fatigue because of the scheduling; the teams were on more even terms here.
1st period: The Winterhawks took it over early with five goals, chasing starting Spencer Michnik. Scott Rtatzlaff, probably intended to get the night off in prep for Seattle’s final game on Sunday, was forced to come in. Five different goalscorers, and Diego Buttazzoni had a goal and 2 assists.
2nd period: Seattle got the first two goals of the period, but Luca Cagnoni scored his second of the game less than a minute after Seattle’s second, and there was never much thought of a comeback. James Stefan scored his 100th point of the season to make it 7-2.
3rd period: Garbage time. Seattle got one early and one late, but were never in much danger of making a comeback.
Best vs. best: Edge to Portland although their top players outside of Cagnoni didn’t have a big impact until the score was lopsided.
Depth vs. depth: Portland’s 3rd line of Diego Buttazzoni, Kyle Chyzowski, and Josh Zakreski had a good night, a combined +11 and 5 points.
Special teams winner: Clearly Seattle in a losing effort.
Best team won?: Yes.
Injuries/suspensions: None.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 1 goal, 2 assists | A good run of games lately. |
| Luca Cagnoni | POR | 2 goals, 1 assist | 7-game point streak. |
| Tyson Jugnauth | POR | 2 assists | 3-game point streak. |
| Nate Danielson | POR | 2 assists | 5-game point streak. |
| Jeremy Hanzel | SEA | 1 goal, 1 assist | 4-game point streak. One WHL game left in his career. |
| Nico Myatovic | SEA | 2 assists | |
| Marek Alscher | POR | 1 goal | |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 1 assist | |
| Kyle Chyzowski | POR | 1 assist | |
| Jack O’Brien | POR | 1 goal |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Spencer Michnik | SEA | 8 saves-13 shots | Started strong, making four or five big saves, but then it really went south after that and he didn’t last the 1st period. |
| Scott Ratzlaff | SEA | 24 saves-26 shots | Was being saved for the season finale Sunday, then was forced into the game and kept it reasonably close. He will play his 3rd game in 3 nights on Sunday. |
| Braeden Cootes | SEA | 1 assist | 7-game point streak, the 16-year-old is closing his first season well. |
| Jan Špunar | POR | 20 saves-24 shots | Started his 14th straight game as Portland continues to run him into the ground for little gain. Had another ugly statistical game, and gave up one really ugly goal. A big question mark for the playoffs; the hope is that five days off will be enough rest for next Friday. |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Thunderbirds | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 47-15-4-1 (.739) | 27-38-2 (.418) |
| Scored/allowed (diff) | 326-201 (+125) | 188-256 (-68) |
| Goals/game | 4.9 | 2.8 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.0 | 3.8 |
| Power play | 26.8% | 23.8% |
| Penalty kill | 79.2% | 78.0% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 3.3 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.9 | 3.7 |
| Outshooting opponents | 58-8-1 | 27-36-4 |
| After 1 period | 45-11-11 | 17-33-17 |
| After 2 periods | 43-18-6 | 21-38-8 |
| Score, last 10 games | 54-28 (+26) | 36-39 (-3) |
| Score, last 20 games | 103-52 (+51) | 58-77 (-19) |
Next games
Sunday at Seattle, 5pm PDT
Friday vs. Victoria, 7pm PDT (Game 1)
Saturday vs. Victoria, 6pm PDT (Game 2)