Poor goaltending and superb goaltending by the opposition does the Winterhawks in as a 4-3 overtime loss to the Tri-City Americans all but puts them out of contention for the top seed in the Western Hockey League’s Western Conference.
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Kyle Kelsey, who gave up 11 goals on 50 shots in last week’s 11-1 Portland win over Tri-City, this time only gave up 3 on 52 shots to hold Portland at bay until Jordan Gavin scored the winner with 2:37 left in overtime. Jan Špunar, starting his 13th consecutive game in a compact schedule, only stopped 10 of 14 shots, with two of the goals being pretty soft and and another being on a rebound put into the slot. Portland outshot Tri-City 52-14 but couldn’t get over the line.
The revenge win for the Ams all but knocked Portland out of contention for the number one seed in the conference. Portland now trails the Prince George Cougars by 3 points with PG having one game left and Portland two. The Winterhawks need help from the Kamloops Blazers, who PG beat 9-2 on Friday night. Portland needs to win their last two games and have Kamloops beat Prince George. If Kamloops beat PG in overtime or a shootout, Portland would additionally need their wins to be by pretty heavy margins. We’re mostly into “miracle” scenarios at this point.
Beside the revenge factor, Tri-City broke and 8-game losing streak. For Portland, it’s their second loss in a row, both in overtime, both when they had 50 shots and wide shot differentials.
Scoring summary
| 7:33 TC Deagan McMillan (Parker Bell, Carter MacAdams) 0-1 | The puck goes off Bell’s and Jack O’Brien’s sticks as they clash for the puck to McMillan beyond the high slot, he one-times it to the net and beats Jan Špunar. Too far out to be considered a good scoring chance. |
| 15:25 POR Diego Buttazzoni (Josh Zakreski, Luca Cagnoni) 1-1 | Zakreski from a long way out passes the puck to the front of the net, where Buttazzoni does really well to win the puck and put it in. |
| 18:45 POR Marcus Nguyen (Tyson Jugnauth, Nate Danielson) 2-1 | And good work in front by Nguyen to win the puck and score on his own rebound from the top of the crease, after Jugnauth got the puck to the front of the net. |
| 28:54 TC (PP) Cruz Pavao (Jordan Gavin, Parker Bell) 2-2 | Gavin’s shot from the right circle rebound straight into the slot to Pavao, and the 15-year-old scores. |
| 29:49 TC Mason Finley (Cash Koch) 2-3 | Just an awful goal. Finley from behind the goal line put it toward the front of the net, and it hits off Špunar’s leg and goes in short side. |
| 56:21 POR Josh Zakreski (Diego Buttazzoni, Kyle Chyzowski) 3-3 | Buttazzoni from the top of the left circle fires an innocent-looking shot. After all the great saves Kelsey made, on this one he puts a rebound to the weak side and Zakreski has an open net to tie it. |
| 62:23 TC Jordan Gavin (Parker Bell) 3-4 | Bell wins the puck at center ice and hits Gavin at the Portland blue line. He has a half-step on Kyle Chyzowski and makes the most of it, taking it all the way to the net and beating Špunar to finish the game. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 0:00 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 10:09 |
| Tied | 17:50 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 34:24 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Narratives
Pregame: Portland needing to win 3 games and best Prince George in goal difference to take the top seed. Tri-City playing out the string and trying to snap an 8-game losing streak.
1st period: After a slow start leading to Tri-City taking the lead (on what has to be considered a soft goal), Portland really turned it on, leading to a 17-5 shot advantage and goals by Diego Buttazzoni and Marcus Nguyen to take a 2-1 lead into the break. Kyle Kelsey in goal for the Ams really kept them in it.
2nd period: It fell apart here, even though Portland gain outshot them by a wide margin. A juicy rebound goal and a goal from behind the goal line by Mason Finley gave the Americans a one-goal lead. This time playing with the lead, Kelsey continued to hold the Winterhawks off the scoreboard.
3rd period: Portland put the pressure on with a 17-3 shot advantage, and finally got the breakthrough when Kelsey dropped a rebound and Josh Zakreski pounced to tie the game.
Overtime: In a pretty even overtime, Jordan Gavin behind the Portland defense and scored to finish the Winterhawks off.
Best vs. best: By and large, Portland’s top players didn’t have good games. Their top line of Josh Davies, Gabe Klassen, and James Stefan went scoreless. Nate Danielson had a secondary assist and 11 shots, but didn’t have a real impact. Meanwhile, Jordan Gavin and Parker Bell totaled 5 points.
Depth vs. depth: Portland’s 3rd line was pretty good. 15-year-old Cruz Pavao for Tri-City scored a goal and looked like he has a promising future. Mason Finley and Deagan McMillan scored goals, although goalie-aided.
Special teams winner: Both teams had 3 power plays; Tri-City got the only goal so they get the nod.
Best team won?: Not when the loser has a 52-14 shot margin.
Injuries/suspensions: Kyle Chyzowski again took a puck to the face, but he returned.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Kyle Kelsey | TC | 49 saves-52 shots | A spectacular game. |
| Jordan Gavin | TC | 1 goal, 1 assist | The winner. |
| Cruz Pavao | TC | 1 goal | The 15-year-old had his 4th goal in 6 games. |
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | Tied the game late in the 3rd. |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | Tied the game in the 1st. |
| Parker Bell | TC | 3 assists | 5-game point streak in his last game against the Winerhawks. |
| Tyson Jugnauth | POR | 1 assist | Also drew some penalties. |
| Luca Cagnoni | POR | 1 assist | 6-game point streak. |
| Nate Danielson | POR | 1 assist | 11 shots and an assist but wasn’t a big factor. |
| Mason Finley | TC | 1 goal | Scored from just behind the goal line. |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Lukas Dragicevic | TC | Kind of amazing that Tri-City to win with home going both scoreless and with zero shots. | |
| Jake Sloan | TC | 4-game point streak snapped. | |
| Gabe Klassen | POR | Terik Parascak and Conner Roulette have caught him, and he’s now tied with them for 6 in the league in scoring. | |
| Jan Špunar | POR | 10 saves-14 shots | Portland, unnecessarily, has worn him out. In his 13 starts in a row he has an .887 save percentage. Even while mathematically still in it, Portland should just rest him up for the playoffs. |
| James Stefan | POR | Lost and 8-game point streak and remains on 99 points. |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Americans | |
|---|---|---|
| Record | 46-15-4-1 (.735) | 23-40-2-1 (.371) |
| Scored/allowed (diff) | 319-197 (+122) | 201-296 (-95) |
| Goals/game | 4.8 | 3.0 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.0 | 4.5 |
| Power play | 27.2% | 18.7% |
| Penalty kill | 79.6% | 70.8% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.9 | 3.3 |
| Outshooting opponents | 57-8-1 | 19-45-2 |
| After 1 period | 44-11-11 | 19-29-18 |
| After 2 periods | 42-18-6 | 20-34-12 |
| Score, last 10 games | 50-28 (+22) | 29-59 (-30) |
| Score, last 20 games | 107-49 (+58) | 62-103 (-41) |
Portland Winterhawks
Not the end of the world. They need a miracle to get top seed now. But if they win in the playoffs, no one will remember that they lost the chance at the top speed from a winnable position. But, right now, how they fell from a winning percentage is annoying.
The Victoria Royals have now been locked into the 7 seed and look to be Portland’s opponent short of that miracle happening.
Tri-City Americans
A little bit stronger than last Friday when they were really shorthanded, and they were more responsible defensively. But Kyle Kelsey stole it. They looked like they had a real chance to lose their last 11 games of the season, so it must feel good to avoid that.
Next games
Saturday vs. Seattle, 6pm PDT
Sunday at Seattle, 5pm PDT
Friday vs. ??????, 7pm PDT [Playoffs Game 1]
next Saturday vs. ??????, 6pm PDT [Playoffs Game 2]
Next game with Tri-City: Probably at their exhibition tournament in September.