“It was one of those games where last shot wins,” Spokane’s head coach Manny Viveiros said.
Tuesday night hockey in the Rose City featured two U.S. Division rivals who are quite familiar with one another.
After facing one another in the first round of the playoffs the last two years, and now playing in their sixth meeting of the season, needless to say, the Spokane Chiefs (28-17-4-1) and Portland Winterhawks (35-7-3-4) know one another well.
13 goals were scored, and Jack Finley’s goal in overtime gave the visiting Chiefs a 7-6 victory.
Coming off a two-game series sweep of the Kelowna Rockets, the Chiefs had their skating legs early. The game had not been played thirty seconds before Spokane tested Joel Hofer with three quality chances.
Facing Hofer, Adam Beckman mentioned, “When you play a really good goaltender you want to throw pucks on net. That is what we wanted to do right off the start and luckily some went in.”
Viveiros explained that they “wanted to come in here and not sit back, that is the last thing you can do, (Portland) is so good. We got a couple of lucky ones too that put them on their heels a little bit.”
As Portland looked to create some chances of their own, an offensive-zone penalty halted any momentum gained.
The Spokane power play has been red-hot of late scoring eight goals on 15 opportunities.
The reigning WHL On the Run Player of the Week, Beckman, scored three seconds after the power play expired. While officially credited as an even-strength goal, Nick Cicek had not yet gotten back into the zone.
“It came on a great pass from Ty Smith, and I just shot it through a screen, lucky it went in,” Beckman described.
The Saskatoon native made the Winterhawks pay again for another penalty – two Portland defenders jumped off the bench as the puck was near the players’ door.
Smith again created the opportunity for Beckman to convert on his WHL leading 38th goal of the season, and fourth against Portland this year.
“That one I kind of got a one timer pass and just shot it. It luckily squeaked in through the five-hole. A lucky bounce you could say.”
The Minnesota Wild third round pick is putting together a spectacular second season in the WHL. As of Tuesday evening the six-foot-one, 174-pound winger led the WHL in points, goals, second in power-play goals, and fourth in assists.
Beckman was humble when asked what is working so well for him lately, “I think the coaching I’m getting and my teammates have helped me continue to develop. I think I’ve got a good work ethic and want to keep developing. I’m getting a little bit lucky too, but that comes from hard work.”
The two early Spokane power plays did not help Portland get the start they wanted.
Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston said, “With the start, they had two power plays in the first ten minutes. I think the shots were like 8-2, but they have a really good power play as you saw out there. I think any time you get power plays early in the game it gives you some life and momentum especially when you have a strong power play like we do or they do.”
Simplicity on the Spokane power play was clearly the game plan.
Beckman said, “Our power play was struggling for quite a while, but we have picked it up as we’ve simplified it and as we’ve stayed focused.”
Smith’s message was, “Earlier on we were complicating it, we have been a little more simple of late. We were trying to be too fancy and it kind of cost us. As we’ve simplified it, we’ve made it click again.”
The direction clearly started at the top though from Viveiros, “We are keeping it pretty simple, move the puck and then shoot it. There isn’t a whole lot into it right now, we are finally starting to do that and it is going in. The power play can be a funny thing sometimes. Right now we are pretty hot and want to keep running that momentum.”
With Spokane controlling the majority of puck possession, Lukáš Pařík only faced six Portland shots in the first twenty minutes.
The Winterhawks faced an uphill battle as the Chiefs are now 22-2-2-0 when leading after the first period.
Six goals were scored in the middle frame – three by each team.
The Chiefs were using their speed to create odd-man rushes all night. Jack Finley and Ty Smith connected for Spokane’s third goal. Portland pinched at their offensive blue line leading to the chance.
“It was a good breakout by (Noah) King, my defensive partner, and Finley got a bit of a break,” Smith described. “I jumped up the weak side and he made a good play through the guy’s triangle to hit me on the backside. I was then in all alone, but it was a great play by Finely to get me into that spot.”
Smith has been buzzing since winning gold at the 2020 IIHF World Junior Championship. For Viveiros though, Smith’s game is much more than what he produces offensively. “Sure it is good that he is putting up numbers which is a positive, but what he does for us defensively is so important. He plays against the (Seth) Jarvis’ and all the top guys in this league, those are heavy and hard minutes. Ty is having to defend quite a bit too, but that is where he has been greatest lately is defensively, not offensively even though he is producing.”
Portland got on the board after pressure to the right of Pařík. Simon Knak sent a pass back to captain Johnny Ludvig to one time. Tyson Kozak was positioned in front of the net to deflect the puck into the twine.
A recent trend lately is Portland allowing a goal on the next shift after scoring – Tuesday was no different.
Another odd-man rush, led by Beckman sent the Chiefs into the Winterhawks zone. Rather than using his already proven quality wrist shot, Beckman dished off to Eli Zummack. The 19-year-old forward simply directed the puck into the net.
With most of the energy already out of the building, Leif Mattson added to fans’ frustration. The former Kelowna Rocket’s centering pass hit a Portland defender and found the back of the net giving Spokane a 5-1 advantage.
“We were in control with a 5-1 lead, but Portland is very explosive, they can come back and score,” Viveiros expressed. “If you give them some chances they are going to score. They are a good team that can score and we knew we had to put some numbers up.”
93 seconds later it was Portland’s turn to answer an opponent’s goal.
Kade Nolan spotted Mason Mannek behind the Spokane defense. The 19-year-old forward from Utah went upstairs on the breakaway for his seventh goal of the season.
A late high sticking penalty on Cordel Larson gave the Winterhawks their first power play of the contest. With only 51 seconds to work with, Portland showed quick puck movement. Ludvig converted on a shot from the point with nine seconds left on the second-period clock giving Portland the momentum down only two when the third period started.
However, the momentum was short lived. Jack Finley found Larson alone in front of Hofer. The 2001-born forward wasted no time scoring his 13th of the 2019-2020 season.
Viveiros credited how important Larson’s goal was in the grand scheme of the game. “That was a really good start of the third period for us, because we knew Portland was going to come out hard, that goal was huge.”
Sure enough, the comeback from Portland was on in full force.
Johnston said, “We fought back every time we were down. All of a sudden in the third (period) we get down by three goals and it looked like you are playing a top team. You look at them and you say, ‘Geez, this might be hard to come back,’ but our guys fought back. We still got 40 shots on net in the last two periods.”
Jack O’Brien’s effort started the Winterhawks rally 4:51 into the final frame. The 16-year-old rookie was able to poke home a loose puck near the crease.
Smith was whistled for holding which sent Portland on the power play with 7:13 on the clock. After a failed zone entry, and the puck sent outside of the offensive zone, the Winterhawks first unit remained on the ice. Jake Gricius held a Ludvig pass temporarily outside of the blue line before feeding Newkirk in stride.
The New York Islanders prospect found a hole and got Portland within one 6-5.
Ludvig’s big night offensively continued as he controlled the puck in Spokane’s end as Hofer went to the bench for the extra attacker. Eventually the Winterhawks captain found Jaydon Dureau on the right side. The 18-year-old winger wired a wrist shot by Pařík to tie the game at six.
Portland had a couple of chances late to win the game in regulation, but extra time was required to find a winner.
The 3-on-3 session was filled with odd-man rushes for both teams, as neither team sat back which is often seen lately in overtime.
After some confusion at the Portland bench, Spokane raced the other way with only two Winterhawks on the ice. Bear Hughes fed Finley for the game-winning goal 4:04 into overtime.
Johnston commented on the line change, “(Cross) Hanas was coming to the bench, then he turned back to the play. Simon (Knak) jumped on and jumped off, so just a little bit of a hesitation there.”
Both teams were proud of their resiliency, Portland for getting the game into overtime, and Spokane for regrouping and finding the game winner.
Ludvig said, “It was a back and forth game. I’m proud of the guys for the comeback, but we have to start finding our game and get back to what we were doing before. We are in a little bit of a rut right now. We battled right to the end and never gave up. I think that is the main positive we want to take away. However, we have to be better overall especially defensively.”
“Any time you give up the lead you don’t want to give the momentum back to them,” Beckman commented. “I think getting the goal in OT showed that and also proved we can play with any team in our division.”
Smith was happy walking away with two points. “That goal was huge for us. Two big points in our division, our division is pretty tight. It was good to see our team fight back after Portland took momentum in the third.”
Leaving Portland with the victory was the positive for Viveiros; however, he mentioned, “I don’t think either side is too happy with giving up six or seven goals, it is something you will want to look at. That said, we are happy, happy to get the win. We’ve had a really long stretch over this last little while with six games in 12 or 13 nights, it is a lot of hockey right now.”
Viveiros’ comments were confirmed when Johnston said, “Both teams would probably say in their dressing room ‘We have to be better defensively.’ Both teams were tested because they are good offensively and we are good offensively, so both teams were then tested defensively.”
“We want to keep improving individually and as a team,” Johnston continued. “These games provide us with ammunition to show the players that we have to be better and have to focus more. We need to be better in our details and hopefully our creativity and our ability to attack will take over, but we can’t give up defensively.”
Notes:
– Clay Hanus missed his second game for the Winterhawks and is day-to-day with an upper-body injury.
– Nick Cicek played in his 100th WHL game.
– Portland officially clinched a playoff spot after gaining one point in the standings.
