(Portland, Oregon) The Everett Silvertips (19-7-1-0) and Portland Winterhawks (14-9-0-2) faced off for the sixth time this season and third time in 11 days.
Everett came out with significant pressure early and attacked Portland right from the first faceoff. The Silvertips scored three goals in the first 20 minutes to help propel them to a 5-3 victory. Martin Fasko-Rudas scored his fifth and sixth goals for Everett and Connor Dewar ensured the victory with an empty net goal with 29 seconds remaining.
Winterhawks head coach Mike Johnston did not like Portland’s start to the game, “I thought it was a game we chased and is a tough way to play against Everett. They are a good team who manage the game well. Their defense is really strong and that is the strength of their team, their defense and their goaltending.”
Fasko-Rudas, Everett’s first round Import Draft selection in 2017 from Slovakia, opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game. Martin’s second goal broke a 1-1 tie after a Jared Freadrich even strength goal. He described his goals and evening, “The first goal was a good pass by [Ronan] Seeley where I got it on my stick and tried to get the puck to the net. My second goal, I stole it from the goalie. I’m happy for those goals and happy for the win. We had a really good first period, and I feel in the second and third we gave them a little bit of life. We played good hockey for 60 minutes and we are happy for the win today.”
Everett’s third goal, and Reece Vitelli’s second of the season, in the first 20 minutes forced Portland to chase the game. Johnston said, “It is hard to chase the game because you don’t want to open up because they will take advantage of you. I thought in the first period we had a push there for a while, and then I thought after they got the third goal they kept coming at us.”
Winterhawks’ rookie defenseman Kade Nolan commented on Everett’s start, “I thought they came out with a lot of energy and we ran into some trouble. Also got into some penalty trouble.”
Penalties were a problem for both teams on Sunday as Portland committed seven and Everett five. The Silvertips had three 5-on-3 power plays, but were unable to convert the chances into goals. “We’ve done good all year,” Johnston said. “Don Hay does a good job with our penalty killers.”
One area on the penalty kill which stands out is that Portland uses two forwards and one defenseman on the 5-on-3. Most teams will ice one forward and two defensemen. For Johnston, “I’ve always liked that. I think it is just a little bit better because most teams try to play two guys up top that are going to shoot. We play our forwards against them and our D side to side down low.”
Everett and Portland traded goals in the second period as Luke Ormsby and Michal Kvasnica each got their second of the season in the middle frame. The Winterhawks entered the third period trailing 4-2.
Jake Gricius said, “I thought we had a pretty good comeback in the third period. It isn’t the result we wanted, but we learned a lot from that game.” The comeback attempt started when Portland had their opportunity on the 5-on-3 power play. “I think [Ryan] Hughes and [Joachim] Blichfeld made a really good play to each other on the give and go. Blichfeld had a really good shot and we were fortunate to bury that.”
Portland pulled Shane Farkas for the extra attacker with 2:11 to play in the period and were able to get a few chances at Dustin Wolf who made some unbelievable saves earlier in the game. Fasko-Rudas wasn’t surprised by some of the saves Wolf made on Sunday, “He is like that every game. He’s so good, and I’m happy for him. He helps us every game.”
Portland’s top line and defensemen were on the ice for the rest of the game. Ample pressure was applied to Wolf, but the 2019 NHL draft eligible goalie made every save. Wolf did not offer much in terms of rebounds so there were several late-game faceoffs.
Portland never called a timeout, which Johnston discussed after the game, “I thought they [Everett] were tired. They kept Dewar on the ice so I thought they were tired. On that faceoff I thought we had done a good job. They ice the puck and we knew what we were going to do; we had already prepared for it. So, it was a guessing game. You take the timeout, they get rested guys. I didn’t really want them to get [Riley] Sutter out there.”
Dewar’s empty-net-goal ensured Everett would leave with both points and have the opportunity on Wednesday to extend their lead in the U.S. Division to eleven points when the two teams play again.
Nolan feels “we need to send a message right off the bat and come out hard making sure we compete to the end.” Gricius wants “more energy to energy to start. We need to get ten shots in ten minutes, especially on a goalie like Wolf. We just need to get our physicality level and compete level up.”
Notes:
– Nolan dressed as the sixth defenseman for Portland as the defensive rotation continues. After 25 games Nolan and Nick Perna have dressed in 11 games and Nick Cicek in 12 games.
– Portland was 100% on the penalty kill tonight including 2:58 of 5-on-3 power plays. The Silvertips had the two-man advantage three different times during the game. Once in the second period and twice in the third.
– Gianni Fairbrother was scratched for Everett on Sunday. Last night against Kelowna he was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct. The WHL did not list any additional information on the discipline report however.
