For the fourth time this season, the Portland Winterhawks (24-6-1-3) and Seattle Thunderbirds (13-18-2-1) dropped the puck. The two I-5 — and division — rivals met at the accesso ShoWare Center and the Winterhawks emerged with a 4-1 victory.
In the first period, Portland came out firing shots on Seattle’s Roddy Ross. The Winterhawks registered 23 shots in the opening 20 minutes, while Isaiah DiLaura only saw three from the Thunderbirds.
Winterhawks assistant general manager and associate coach Kyle Gustafson said, “We knew Seattle had a fast start against Spokane last night, so that was a big focus of ours tonight, to get out early and beat them to pucks. I thought our offensive zone play was really, really good, able to get underneath them, keep plays alive. I thought our support, and how we kept pucks alive, got to the net, did a lot of good things in the first.”
Despite the shot difference, the teams headed to the dressing room tied at one.
After Portland failed to convert on a three-on-one shorthanded rush, Conner Bruggen-Cate made the visitors pay. The overage forward picked up his sixth goal of the season and second of the weekend.
“He has been good, one of our better forwards tonight for sure,” Seattle’s head coach Matt O’Dette commented. “He is playing with tons of energy and tons of life, just creating things due to work ethic and strong physical play. He has been a good work horse for us.”
66 seconds later, Jack O’Brien answered for the Winterhawks. A rebound went to the top of the crease where the 16-year-old was stationed to pounce on the opportunity. The goal was the Denver, Colorado, native’s fourth tally of the season.
In the second period, Portland still outshot Seattle, but the Thunderbirds pushed back after the intermission.
Tyson Kozak was the only skater to find the back of the net. A Nick Cicek shot was stopped by Ross, but Kozak found the loose puck.
The Souris, Manitoba, native’s sixth goal of the season gave the Winterhawks a 2-1 advantage heading into the 3rd period.
Portland continued to have the edge in puck possession and kept pressing Seattle into turnovers.
O’Dette said, “We just weren’t executing and efficient with our puck movement. Their speed accounts for some of that and they were on us pretty quick, don’t have as much time to make plays.”
Mason Mannek capitalized with just shy of seven minutes remaining. A good read on the forecheck led to the puck ending up on the 19-year-old’s stick. The Herriman, Utah, native wired a wrist shot by Ross, extending the Portland lead to 3-1.
Seattle thought they were back within one when the puck ended up behind DiLaura. However, the referees immediately waived off the goal, creating some controversy.
Isaiah described the play from his point of view. “I thought I had it covered, then they just kind of pushed me into the net there. Guess it was no goal.”
Gustafson’s viewpoint was, “They (referees) said he was pushed into the net, that he had control of the puck and pushed into the net. The one thing about with Steve (Papp) and Mark (Pearce), they are both veteran officials, and Steve was right there on the post. When he washed it off, I knew it was a good chance it wasn’t going to be a goal.”
O’Dette disagreed with the call on the ice. “I saw the puck between his legs, and we kind of poked it in and went under his legs to the back of the net. I don’t know, we haven’t been getting the reviews. I don’t even know if they reviewed that, but we haven’t been getting those calls going our way with the disallowed goals or allowed goals. It is what it is and unfortunate.”
During the Seattle power-play sequence, the 6-foot-1, 210-pound netminder made three or four key saves to preserve the two-goal cushion.
“They had a couple of down-low opportunities on the power play that I thought (DiLaura) was real sharp. I thought he held his own, kept us in there when they started to push, did a good job locking down the front,” Gustafson mentioned postgame.
The last time the two familiar opponents played, the Thunderbirds left Portland with a shootout victory after scoring to tie the game late in regulation.
An empty-net goal by Reece Newkirk with 1:40 left on the clock sealed the win for the Winterhawks this time.
O’Dette felt Portland may have entered Saturday with a chip on its shoulder. “They are a good team, a first-place team for a reason. I’m sure they didn’t like getting beat in their building and they had a response for that. We can’t get too down. We’ve had a good stretch but had an off night. We have to get back to work and back on the horse.”
Portland ended the game outshooting Seattle 50-23, but Ross kept Seattle in it right until the very end. Per O’Dette, “He was great, gave us a chance to hang in there and make a push at the end. They direct a lot of pucks to the net and funnel a lot. He was really good tonight.”
Both teams are off until Tuesday when they meet for the fifth time in their annual New Year’s Eve game at the Moda Center.
Gustafson wants the Winterhawks to focus on “our discipline, our start, the tangibles of everything away from the technical side of things. Our structure was fine and fell into place and played a good road game.”
