Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks

Everett starts fast and takes Game 3 in Portland

Quick starts have been the story so far in the second-round series between U.S. Division rivals, the Everett Silvertips and Portland Winterhawks.

The winning team in each of the three games in the series so far have not only scored first, they have netted the game’s first three goals. The winning team has then never looked back and locked down their desperate opponent, winning handily each time.

That is exactly what took place again on Tuesday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Everett jumped all over Portland and was up 3-0 before the game was 10 minutes old. Portland showed some life by pushing hard and getting to within one, before Everett put them away, en route to a 6-2 win in the Rose City, taking a 2-1 series lead in their best-of-seven match up.

Jake Christiansen and Everett’s defense had a strong game (photo-Ben Ludeman/Portland Winterhawks)

The Silvertips win meant that the Winterhawks have now won just nine times in 25 tries at the VMC. Game 4 will be at the much friendlier (in terms of Portland’s record this year) confines of the Moda Center next door on Thursday. They have won 12 of 16 at the newer building.

Everett was led by two goals from Riley Sutter and two points apiece from Kevin Davis, Bryce Kindopp, Patrick Bajkov and Connor Dewar.

Sutter and his line were all over Portland physically in the early going and they put their names on the score sheet as well. Sutter netted his third of the playoffs 4:35 into the game as he took a pass on the rush and fired a shot that Kehler could not get enough of to stop.

Kindopp then extended the lead to two, 3:08 later. Bajkov made a nice pass at the end of his shift to an activated Gianni Fairbrother and the d-man made a slick feed to a wide open Kindopp to the right of Kehler. The goal was Kindopp’s second of the post-season.

The Winterhawks were starting to sustain some pressure of their own, when Everett went up 3-0, 9:11 into the game. Sutter got his stick on a shot by Davis, redirecting the puck by Portland goalie Cole Kehler.

The road team had their way with the home squad and their three goals meant that they had scored nine straight markers overall in the series.

Portland finally stemmed the tide with 4:25 left in the first off an incredible goal from Detroit Red Wings prospect, d-man Dennis Cholowski. He jumped up into the play and took a nice pass from Ryan Hughes, driving hard at the net. He got Everett goalie Carter Hart to come to the near post, before skating around the net and tucking home a wraparound goal – his fifth marker of the playoffs.

Dennis Cholowski now leads the Winterhawks in playoff goals with five (photo-Dayna Fjord/Portland Winterhawks)

Portland came out strong in the second and Hart was forced into making several incredible stops to keep Portland from crawling back closer.

They would finally get their second of the game, on the power play with 5:39 left in the middle frame. Kieffer Bellows powered a shot by Hart for his third of the playoffs and second of this series.

Everett was on their heels and it looked like Portland tying the game was inevitable. Then disaster struck for the Winterhawks.

Dewar, Reece Vitelli and Martin Fasko-Rudas created a strong cycle in the Portland zone and Dewar was able to create some room for Everett d-man Kevin Davis by knocking Portland forward Ty Kolle’s stick from his hands. Davis utilized all that room by driving with the puck at the Portland net and the end result was Vitelli picking up a gut-punch goal for Everett – putting his team back up by two.

Hart was at his best late in the second, stoning Skyler McKenzie on a near-breakaway and just not allowing Portland to get anything by him. Hart stopped 40 of 42 in the game and has rebounded nicely from his below average performance (for him) in Game 1.

Kehler, meanwhile after not allowing a goal by Everett for 164:31 through two regular season shutouts in Portland and the start of Game 1, has not been at his best in Games 2 and 3. He has given up 10 goals to Everett over his last seven periods played as he was pulled after the second in Game 2. He gave up five goals on 27 shots in this one.

Everett played a strong defensive game in the third and did not allow many quality chances among the 14 Portland shots in the final frame.

Bellows was credited with Portland’s second goal (photo-Ben Ludeman/Portland Winterhawks)

The Silvertips got some insurance as a board battle win by Kindopp led to Fasko-Rudas pounding home a shot by Kehler.

Dewar put the game away with an empty-netter late in the third for the 6-2 final.

Portland went 1-for-3 on the power play and is 6-for-30 on the man advantage in playoffs. Everett was 0-for-2 and is now 6-for-24 overall in the post-season.

Notes:

-Connor Barley got back into the lineup after sitting out the last three games. He took the place of Lane Gillis who was scratched.

-Alex Overhardt was a strong 11-of-13 at face offs and has now taken 24 of his last 34 draws. Cody Glass was 7-for-13, Jake Gricius was also 7-of-13 and Reece Newkirk and McKenzie both took three of nine draws apiece.

-Overhardt’s fight in the early going  with Sean Richards meant that rookie center Newkirk was skating in his place for several shifts. The young middle-man was out of place when Sutter put Everett up by three in the first.

-Bellows led the team with seven shots on net while Joachim Blichfeld had six shots and McKenzie, Henri Jokiharju and Cholowski each had four. Bellows, Blichfeld and McKenzie each are tied for fifth among all player in the WHL’s playoffs with 40 shots on goal. They have a combined nine goals among their 120 attempts for an eight percent combined shooting percentage. That will need to improve, should Portland have hopes of winning this series.