The Portland Winterhawks were heavily reliant upon their top line of Kieffer Bellows, Cody Glass and Skyler McKenzie for much the first half of the year. The rest of the lineup struggled finding chemistry consistently and this showed especially when Bellows and Joachim Blichfeld were away at the World Junior Championships.
With Bellows, Hughes, Glass, Blichfeld and more suffering injuries at different points, the whole forward group was finally healthy together at the very end of January. Their newfound depth has been on display ever since.
Most notably over the past few games, Ryan Hughes, Alex Overhardt and Joachim Blichfeld have found incredible chemistry and the trio seemed to be possessing the puck deep in the Seattle zone, seemingly on every shift over the first two periods of Portland’s 4-1 win over Seattle in Kent on Saturday night.
Hughes and defenseman Keoni Texeira each had a goal and an assist and Blichfeld added an assist, while Overhardt was a plus-three. Cole Kehler backstopped Portland to the win, behind 28 saves on 29 shots.
The depth coming through for Portland was poor timing for Seattle as they lost another key player on Saturday. Nolan Volcan first blocked a shot and limped off in the early going of the second period. Then he took a friendly fire shot upside his head and according to Seattle Head Coach Matt O’Dette he “has a good sized welt on his head.” Volcan going down left Seattle without another high-energy player who provides them with needed offense. He joined Sami Moilanen on the sidelines as the Finnish forward was scratched.
O’Dette said his team definitely felt the loss of Volcan and Moilanen. “When we’ve got everyone going, we’ve got pretty good depth. But we are relying on some young guys right now and when one of our key guys goes down, the depth takes a big hit. Volcan logs a lot of minutes for us and plays in every situation. That was a tough loss.”
The Winterhawks opened the scoring as just seven seconds into the second period, Dennis Cholowski burst down the left wing and found Cody Glass at the far post for a tap in. The goal was Glass’s 27th of the year and came on a power play that carried over from the first.
Seattle pressed back and created a ton of traffic in tight on Portland goalie Cole Kehler. Austin Strand then gathered the puck and his shot was somehow stopped by a blind Kehler, who was flailing on the ice.
That stop would be key as Portland extended their lead a few minutes later. Ryan Hughes, who seemed to be having his way stick-handling in the Seattle zone in the period, drew the defense in and dropped a pass to Keoni Texeira. Portland’s captain wired a shot blocker side by Liam Hughes for his eighth of the year and the 2-0 lead.
The Hawks then made it 3-0 as Texeira repaid the favor to Hughes. He flipped a pass over to Hughes at the right face off dot and Hughes drilled a one-timer low on the ice. Liam Hughes got over, but could not get his left pad down on the ice in time to stop Ryan Hughes’ shot.
The ability of Hughes, Overhardt and Blichfeld to pin the Thunderbirds deep in their zone was key in the team setting up both of the the goals the team was on the ice for. They also seemed to wear down the under-manned T-birds by making them chase the puck.
Things heated up late in the second as Jake Lee checked Overhardt from behind and the overage center appeared to catch Liam Hughes up high. Seattle may have been thinking about the last time Hughes played against Portland and was knocked out of the game by McKenzie as the Winnipeg Jets draftee collided with him. No penalty was assessed on either play.
O’Dette felt that his young forwards struggled when trying to play up in the lineup against Hughes and co. in the second period.
“We were without two of our 200-foot players and when we are trying to match up lines those are two guys that match up against their top lines. It was nice to see some resilience and push back in the third though.”
Seattle did indeed come out inspired in the third period and took Portland’s possession game at them. It finally paid off as Noah Philp found Graeme Bryks streaking down the left side and the Edmonton, Alberta native buried his first career goal.
Despite a better share of possession in the third period and some good looks at the net, Kehler and Portland held them off.
Portland then put the game away as Skyler McKenzie delivered his 41st of the year into Seattle’s empty net after they had pulled Liam Hughes for an extra attacker.
Seattle’s Hughes stopped 24 of 27.
Portland went one-for-four on the power play, though one of their goals came just five seconds after a Seattle penalty had expired.
Seattle went 0-for-3.
The teams both get on their buses now and head down to the rose city for the eighth game in the season series. Portland has now won five of them and has yet to lose in regulation to the Thunderbirds, sporting a 5-0-1-1 record.
Both teams will be playing their third game in as many nights.
Portland remains two points behind Everett for first in the U.S. Division as the Silvertips shut out the visiting Vancouver Giants 6-0.
Seattle is tied with Tri-City for the first wild card spot, three points behind Spokane for third in the U.S.
