Strong start not enough for Thunderbirds, who fall to Portland in shootout
Feb 24, 2019, 8:42 AM | Updated: 8:49 am
Portland Winterhawks goalie Shane Farkas came in relief to hold off Seattle and win in a shootout. (Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
(Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
KENT – The Seattle Thunderbirds found the net on three of their first seven shots Saturday night against the Portland Winterhawks but perhaps they scored too soon.
After building a 3-0 lead in the first ten minutes, the Thunderbirds had chased Portland starter Joel Hofer but his replacement, Shane Farkas, calmed things down the rest of the way. That allowed the top scoring team in the U.S. Division to reel in the Thunderbirds, tie the game and ultimately win 4-3 in the shootout.
Farkas would end the night stopping all 22 shots he faced as well as all three Seattle shooters in the shootout. The Thunderbirds lost the game but did earn a crucial point and added to their lead in the race for the Western Conference’s final playoff spot.
“We’re disappointed we didn’t get the extra point,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “All in all a good weekend against two good teams, Getting three points is pretty good and we move forward.“
Portland (37-17-3-3) was able to come back and win despite their top two players, Joachim Blichfeld and Cody Glass, being held off the score sheet by the Thunderbirds. It was the supporting cast that brought them back and was punctuated by defenseman Jared Freadrich, who’s point shot at 3:21 of the third period found its way through traffic and past Thunderbirds goalie Roddy Ross to tie the game at three and set up overtime.
Ross played well in making 36 saves to earn the Thunderbirds their point.
“Blichfeld has been a handful for us all year, as he has been with everybody,” O’Dette said. “It’s a focal point, stopping him, and hopefully you can win the other match ups. They’ve got some depth and it showed tonight.”
Seattle (24-28-5-2) burst out of the gates Saturday and got the sell out accesso ShoWare Center crowd on its side early.
Matthew Wedman would score on the Thunderbirds first shot of the game, at 2:05 of the first, to start things off. It was his 33rd of the season, his 19th in the last 18 games and extended his point streak to 10 games.
Six minutes later, Seattle defenseman Owen Williams intercepted a pass in the Portland zone and scored his fourth to extend the lead. Andrej Kukuca would then add a power-play marker at 9:42 to finish the night for Hofer and build the three-goal cushion.
That would end up being all the scoring for Seattle, however.
“It’s tough to put a finger on one thing, just a lot of things go into losing a three-goal lead,” Thunderbirds captain Nolan Volcan said. “They’re a tough team and they’re confident and know they can score. Even if you get a five on them in the first, they’re going to play til the end because they know they can put five in the net. I think we’ve got to buckle down some more.”
One factor in the blown lead was the power play.
While Kukuca did cash in on a Seattle power-play opportunity, the Thunderbirds couldn’t get it done on five others, ending the evening 1-for-6 with the man advantage.
Five of those six power-play chances came in the first period and had Seattle added one more score to go up by four, the game may have turned out differently.
“I thought our execution wasn’t good enough,” O’Dette said. “We got the yips a little bit with some of our passes. They’ve got a good PK that did a really good job, give them credit. But, it starts with execution and I think we needed our power play to get us momentum. When we’re not scoring, we need to build some momentum off it, and I didn’t think we did that.”
The Thunderbirds were given an extended three-minute major power play between the second and third periods after Portland’s Nick Cicek was given a major check-from-behind penalty after running Jake Lee into the boards.
Seattle couldn’t score and would not get another look on the power play for the rest of the game.
“We had so many in the first, it’s one of those things where you almost get complacent with them when they keep coming and coming,” Volcan said of the power play. “That’s what happened but we should have definitely cashed in on a couple more of those.”
After surviving the initial Thunderbirds surge in the first period, the Winterhawks went to work quickly in the second period.
They scored twice in the first 2:24 of the middle period on goals by Clay Hanus and Lane Gillis to get right back in the game. Portland was able to snatch the momentum back and would outshoot the Thunderbirds 31-19 over the game’s final two periods.
Freadrich’s goal in the third tied it and neither club was able to push one across in the overtime period. Portland’s Seth Jarvis was the only shooter to convert in the shootout which was good enough to earn the victory for the visitors.
While Seattle lost out on earning a second point Saturday, and four over the weekend, it did walk away with one. The team the Thunderbirds are battling for a playoff berth with, the Kamloops Blazers, lost Saturday which put Seattle five points up on the eighth spot in the conference.
The two teams will meet in a crucial game Friday night in Kamloops.
“It’s still huge to get the point,” Volcan added. “Obviously we’re gunning for points every game. Over the weekend our goal was four points but walking away with three against two of the top teams in the league is good for us, it’s a confidence booster.”
Notes
• Seattle defenseman Cade McNelly was not in the lineup Saturday as he is facing a suspension for his hit on Everett’s Martin Faski-Rudas on Friday night. The length of the suspension has not yet been announced by the WHL.
• Short blue liners, the Thunderbirds called up 16-year-old Luke Bateman. The rookie played sparingly on the night but acquitted himself well.
• Saturday was only the second shootout for the Thunderbirds on the season and they fell to 0-2. None of the three Seattle shooters converted and the team is still looking for its first successful shootout attempt of the year.
