The Seattle Thunderbirds (30-24-7-2) and Portland Winterhawks (38-20-1-4) played a wild game at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in front of 6,124 enraptured fans Friday night. The game had a wild, playoff feel to it as Seattle rode strong goaltending by Liam Hughes and the hot stick of Zack Andrusiak to take the game 5-4 in the shootout.
Andrusiak had a hat trick Tuesday vs Vancouver and kept the hot hand going with two goals and the shootout winner Friday. Hughes, meanwhile stymied nearly everything Portland fired on him in the shootout, stopping three NHL-signed players in Kieffer Bellows, Dennis Cholowski and Joachim Blichfeld, despite a myriad of highly skilled moves they put on. He also stopped 36 of 40 when there was more than one skater on the ice.
If not for a sudden burst of firepower in the third, Portland may not have even garnered the one point. Cody Glass and Blichfeld scored just six seconds apart and Ryan Hughes added a marker 2:38 later to stake Portland to a 4-3 lead.
This was the third time Seattle has beaten Portland this year in nine tries. every single one of those three have been in dramatic fashion. This marked the second shootout win for Seattle over Portland, to go with an awe-inspiring OT winner by Jarret Tyszka back on December 30th.
Seattle is now 8-2 in the circus.
Noah Philp, who had a three point night and scored in the shootout himself, tied the game up for Seattle and forced overtime with a goal the home crowd did not like. Andrusiak, who ended up with four points, got the puck on net and Portland goalie Cole Kehler stopped him. However the puck lay loose enough for the referees not to whistle it dead and it continued to move around until Kehler’s blocker had been knocked from his hand and Philp had found the puck, wiring a shot by a down-and-out Kehler.
Kehler, who has been feeling the pressure from fellow goalie Shane Farkas with the latter winning three straight starts and stopping 87 of 90 overall, got the start and turned away 29 of 33.
Seattle opened the scoring after Cody Glass let the puck get by him in the Seattle zone, leading to a two-on-one rush for Noah Philp and Zack Andrusiak. Philp sold that he was shooting before slipping a nifty pass over to Andrusiak for a one-timer and his fourth goal in two games.
Henri Jokiharju then let go with an incredible outlet pass to Jake Gricius for a near-breakaway. His backhand try was stopped but Ty Kolle found the rebound and beat Liam Hughes for his sixth goal this year.
Despite Portland pumping 15 shots on Hughes in the second, it was Seattle who would find the net, not just once but twice.
Andrusiak got Seattle back on top again as he took a slick feed from Donovan Neuls and buried his shot by Kehler. The pass just about tickled the laces of Brendan De Jong’s skates, but the Carolina Hurricanes draft pick could not get a piece of it.
Neuls’ nifty stick work would play a role in Seattle going up by two moments later. He took a pass from Philp and after his first shot was stopped, he found the ricochet and beat Kehler for his 21st this year.
With the number of talented playmakers Portland has though, you just can’t count them out. They proved that with three straight goals midway through the third.
Glass took another slick feed from Jokiharju on a power play to just barely sneak a shot by Hughes for his 31st of the year. That is just one goal shy of his career-high he set a season ago.
Then right off the faceoff, Blichfeld took a feed from Keoni Texeira to race in alone and beat Hughes to tie the game. The goal was the San Jose Sharks prospect’s 22nd this year.
Ryan Hughes then gave Portland its first lead as Glass fired a cross-ice pass right to the left wing and he buried a one-timer before Hughes could get over to his left. It was Hughes’ third goal and sixth point in two games.
Before Portland could walk out with a home crowd pleasing 4-3 win, Philp tied the game with his mad-scramble goal.
Then since Portland could not find the net behind Liam Hughes and his active poke check, the two teams went to the shootout, which Seattle does not seem to mind participating in. Philp and Andrusiak netted markers by Kehler, while Glass was the only one to solve Hughes and Seattle took the extra point.
Seattle keeps its six point lead on Kamloops for the second wild card spot with three games in hand and closes to within four points of the stumbling Tri-City Americans for the first wild card spot. The Ams fell to Spokane 5-4 in overtime.
Portland got the one point and falls eight points behind Everett for the U.S. Division lead with two games in hand. The Silvertips took a 4-2 win in Kelowna to extend their advantage by a single point.
Portland and Seattle will see each other again Sunday, but on Saturday the T-birds visit Everett, while Portland heads to Kennewick for a game with Tri-City.
