Ben Ludeman / Chris Mast

WHL Playoff Preview: Everett Silvertips vs Portland Winterhawks

Regular season meetings:

9/23/17 – Portland 7 @Everett 4

10/29/17 – Everett 3 @Portland 2

11/4/17 – Portland 3 @Everett 1

12/6/17 – Everett 4 Portland 1

12/9/17 – Everett 2 @Portland 1

12/17/17 – Everett 8 Portland 3

1/6/18 – Portland 4 @Everett 3

1/14/18 – Everett 4 Portland 3 (SO)

1/31/18 – Portland 3 Everett 0

3/11/18 – Portland 2 Everett 0

Portland went 5-4-0-1 and Everett was 5-5

 

Key players’ stats over the season series:

 

Portland Games Played Goals Assists Points Shots
Cody Glass 10 1 12 13 33
Skyler McKenzie 10 7 3 10 37
Kieffer Bellows 8 7 1 8 48
Alex Overhardt 9 2 4 6 34
Joachim Blichfeld 7 2 2 4 13
Henri Jokiharju 8 1 3 4 20

 

Portland Games Played Record Save % GAA
Cole Kehler 10 5-3-0-1 0.924 2.49

 

Everett Games Played Goals Assists Points Shots
Patrick Bajkov 10 5 7 12 35
Matt

Fonteyne

10 7 3 10 36
Sean Richards 10 1 5 6 14
Connor Dewar 10 2 4 6 44
Bryce Kindopp 10 3 3 6 17
Riley Sutter 10 2 3 5 18

 

Everett Games Played Record Save % GAA
Carter Hart 6 3-3 0.948 1.83

How did they get here:

Everett- The Silvertips under new head coach Dennis Williams deployed a somewhat hybrid style of play, mashing the old defense-first system under former head coach Kevin Contantine with a wide open style brought in under Williams. The result was the most goals they had scored in franchise history and a new all-time points leader in overage right wing Patrick Bajkov. Bajkov’s center – Matt Fonteyne (also an overage) had a breakout season as well nearly doubling his previous season high with 88 points.

Connor Dewar (photo-Chris Mast)

However, the Silvertips knew they had likely the last season in the WHL but two-time WHL goalie of the year Carter Hart, so defense was still something that was concentrated on. Longtime assistant coach Mitch Love brought back overage blue liner Kevin Davis to his defensive corps, but no other players from last year’s top-four. He got strong seasons from young blue liners like Wyatte Wylie, Jake Christiansen and Ian Walker and then got some big help in the form of Dallas Stars prospect Ondrej Vala, who came over along with forward Garrett Pilon in a trade deadline deal.

In the first round, the U.S. Division champion Silvertips exacted revenge on the Seattle Thunderbirds, a team that had knocked them out three times over the previous four seasons. Fonteyne (tied for team-high eight points in the five games) and Bajkov (seven) were their usual productive selves along with Pilon (seven), but Connor Dewar had a huge first round. He scored twice and added six assists to tie Fonteyne for most on the team. Dewar, who plays an energetic role on this team has shown this year that he can produce offensively as well, but his leading the team so far has to be a surprise.

Hart exercised some playoff demons himself as he bounced back from giving up five goals to Seattle in Game 2, to shut the door the rest of the way, only allowing four over the last thee games of the series – all Everett wins.

Portland- The Winterhawks nearly ran down Everett for the division title, despite battling through times of inconsistency, injuries to two-thirds of the second line of Joachm Blichfeld, Alex Overhardt and Ryan Hughes for much of the season and absences of Kieffer Bellows, Henri Jokiharju and Blichfeld at the World Junior Championships. They still got home-ice through the first round, for all the good that did them.

(photo-Dayna Fjord)

The Winterhawks, who split their home games between the Moda Center and Veterans Memorial Coliseum have struggled at the latter. They lost two of three games to Spokane at the VMC (with both losses in overtime), but were rescued by winning both games in Spokane. Game 4 was a memorable victory as Blichfeld scored twice in seven seconds to turn a 3-2 third period deficit into a 4-3 win and sending the series back to Portland up 3-1.

Portland has won just eight of 24 games at the VMC, the site of Game 3 in this series.

Unfortunately for Portland a bad bounce with 30 seconds left in the third force overtime in Game 5 and they had to go back to Spokane. The Chiefs played incredible in Game 6, running the Hawks out the door and into a Game 7, less than 24 hours later at the VMC.

Portland played a great team-defense game and had their top line, which had struggled at times in the series, break out, scoring all three goals. Bellows’ one-timer to break a 1-1 tie in the third was what helped them secure a second round visa. Kehler’s play was key in the series, as he bent but did not break.

Outlook for the series:

These two teams have had a number of playoff series, but this series does not resemble any of the previous ones. Portland dismantled Everett behind a much more talented lineup in 2011, 2013 and 2015 and Everett steamrolled a Portland team whose coach was on his way out in 2016.

The talent probably still goes to Portland overall with four first round NHL draft picks in Dennis Cholowski, Jokiharju, Glass and Bellows, a signed NHL goalie in Cole Kehler, another signed forward in Blichfeld and two other drafted players in forward McKenzie and defenseman Brendan De Jong. Keoni Texeira, Portland’s overage captain who had a great round one, could also be signed to a pro deal by the time the 2018-19 NHL season rolls around.

Cole Kehler (photo-Andy Devlin)

However, with Everett bringing in two signed guys in Vala and Pilon and one of the best set of overage players in Bajkov, Fonteyne and defenseman Kevin Davis, the edge is not as much as it has been in the past.

While many may pigeon-hole this Portland team as a classic Mike Johnston team that likes to run and gun, they do not quite fit that bill anymore. Johnston along with assistants Danny Flynn and Kyle Gustafson, has gotten his team to reign in a little bit and take more calculated risks. They seem to have many more set plays, especially off of face offs and they try to pick apart the gaps in a defense, often with precision and success.

On the other end, Portland is at its best when their best forwards are coming back to help break up any attacks going the other way. In their two, late season shutout wins over Everett, this is just what they did. They clogged up the neutral zone and forced Everett to score off a cycle, rather than off the rush. Kehler was able to shut them out both times without making too many spectacular saves.

One has to wonder if the physical play that Spokane threw at Portland in round one, gave the older players who have not experienced the WHL playoffs and yet are playing key roles like Cholowski and Bellows enough of a taste to get them acclimated so that they can perform better in the second round.

Bellows had just two goals in the first round, something that cannot repeat itself in round two for Portland to be successful. He does get a team in Everett that he has lit the lamp on with regularity though in this round. Bellows had seven goals and an assist through eight games vs the Tips and will be looking to run that total up in this series.

His linemates in Glass and McKenzie also had strong season series with Everett and they will be looking to breakout after stumbling at times when Spokane was able to throw their top defensive units at them.

The team was helped by four goals from Cholowski and three from third-line winger Mason Mannek, as well as the expected production from Jokiharju and the second line of Hughes, Overhardt and Blichfeld.

Bellows will be facing his long-time WJC foe in Hart, who suited up for Canada the last two years, while Bellows played for the United States. Bellows had Hart’s number there as well, beating him twice in the gold medal game in 2017 and then scored again vs. him this year, before helping the U.S. win in a shootout. There are few players at this age level that can say they have beat Hart in as many big-game situations as Bellows has.

Hart did get over that hurdle at the WJCs this year as he won the gold. He would like to add the first ever trip to the Memorial Cup for Everett to that as well. Eliminating Bellows and Portland on the way would be a nice cherry on top for him.

Hart has the ability to keep his team in a game when they are not at their best, as he did in Kent when he faced 22 shots in the first period and allowed only one goal. He then stopped everything else as Everett won a key Game 3 and went on to take the series.

(photo-Chris Mast)

Hart, Bajkov, Fonteyne and Davis have made it to the second round for four straight years now and are hoping to finally secure that birth in the Western Conference Final.

The young defensemen for Everett will be key in this series as they will likely have to face a potent top-six for Portland that has the ability to possess the puck for long periods of times and wear you down. If Everett cannot get the match ups they want, Portland’s top two lines could overwhelm Hart and the Tips.

Everett has a great top line of their own in Bajkov, Fonteyne and Richards and Bajkov and Fonteyne especially have shown the ability to unleash some high-end talent and score big goals.

Both teams were towards the bottom of the league among power plays in the first round. Everett went 4-for-18, while Portland was 5-for-23 (in two more games). Who wins this battle could very well determine the series.

Portland made a key change that led to the first unit finally adding to their two total PP goal in the first six games of the series. That change was taking the player who had scored those two goals off the top unit and inserting another forward in Blichfeld. Cholowski had played on that top unit ever since he came over in a trade with Prince George, but removing him did the trick as they scored twice on the man advantage in Game 7.

Both teams have players like Dewar and Richards for Everett and Overhardt and Bellows for Portland among others that get under the other team’s skin. Who can draw more extra penalties from the other and thus get their power play out there will be something to watch.

Alex Overhardt (photo-Brian Liesse)

Prediction:

-This is a really tough series to call. Everett does finally seem to have the firepower needed to complement Hart and the defense, but they will be facing a team with so many skilled players and experienced coaches. I think this series goes the full seven games with Portland as my pick to advance and get back to the Western Conference Final.

Portland wins in seven games.