Winterhawks edge T-Birds 4-3 in overtime

KENT – The Thunderbirds’ frustrating week grew a bit more frustrating on Saturday night against their biggest rivals.

Seattle was the better team for most of the night but still came up short, losing to the Portland Winterhawks 4-3 in overtime. Portland won it 1:52 into the overtime period on a Miles Koules goal. Ryan Gropp scored twice for the T-Birds but it wasn’t enough to avoid their third straight loss.

“It’s tough,” Mathew Barzal said. “Anytime you think you outwork your opponent and outplay them but come out on the other side isn’t fun. We think we deserved more, but that’s the way she goes sometimes.”

Playing in front of the third-largest ShoWare Center crowd ever, the T-Birds outshot their guests 45-30 but Portland goalie Adin Hill was big, making 42 saves to keep the game close. Three of the Portland goals were against the flow of play as the Winterhawks only managed 13 shots through two periods. The problem for Seattle is that Portland capitalized on the few chances it had and led after two 3-2.

“We gave them some quality chances, a few,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “That team can generate them no matter what, so I thought overall that’s where we like to be defensively … again, a lot closer to game we need to play to give ourselves a chance to win.”

Seattle responded well to the deficit in the third period and would keep pushing before finally tying the game up when Gropp scored his second of the night by banging a rebound past Hill.

Gropp missed a golden opportunity late in the period to put Seattle ahead after a nice pass from Evan Wardley. Gropp got the puck with space but sent it wide of the net.

“I was pretty upset with that one,” Gropp said. “Good pass by ‘Wards and I didn’t really catch it cleanly … I’ve got to have that one. I’m not going to make any excuses.”

The T-Birds had a couple of good chances in overtime but a turnover deep in their end would spell their doom. Nic Petan picked up the puck behind the net and fed a wide-open Koules in the slot for the game winner.

Overall the game was a nice response to the two previous losses that saw Seattle out-scored 10-0. The T-Birds battled hard all night and got back to playing the kind of hockey that led them to their recent success.

“I thought we played a pretty strong game for the most part,” Konowalchuk said. “Skating and playing the type of speed game we want to play. It’s been missing for the last game and a half for our team, that’s not good enough. That’s the kind of pace we want to play with.”

Seattle came out of the gates Saturday and outshot Portland 8-1. That one shot for Portland ended up in the back of the net when Oliver Bjorkstrand raced down the wing and beat Taran Kozun on the short side. The goal gave Portland a lead and was the 11th straight unanswered goal that the T-Birds had given up over the past three games.

The T-Birds would answer 4 minutes later when Jared Hauf flung a wrist shot through traffic to beat Hill. It was Hauf’s second goal of the season and was this year’s Teddy Bear Toss goal, which meant the 6,208 fans threw stuffed animals on the ice.

The second period brought more of the same and once again the Winterhawks would strike first despite Seattle having the better of the play. Chase De Leo fought off a T-Birds defender and fired a shot over Kozun’s shoulder.

Seattle didn’t wait long to answer, however, as Gropp picked up his first goal after Donovan Neuls set him up with a pinpoint crossing pass. Before the second ended, one of the Winterhawks’ best would strike to give them the lead back. Petan streaked into Seattle’s zone by himself, turned on the jets and roofed a back-hand shot for his seventh on the year.

Portlan’s top line of Bjorkstrand, Petan and Paul Bittner were deployed by head coach Jamie Kompon all night. They routinely double-shifted and were responsible for three of the four Portland goals. That caused some matchup problems for the T-Birds as they had to try and get their shut-down line out as much as possible against them.

“(Portland’s top line) played all night,” Konowalchuk said. “Eansor’s line and Theodore and Smith were out against them a lot. They did a pretty solid job. They didn’t hem us in or get buzzing, I’d say credit to them, they didn’t have a ton of chances but they did find the back of the net when they did.”

When the T-Birds couldn’t get Scott Eansor out against the Petan line, there was trouble. All four Portland goals came with Eansor’s line on the bench.

Offensively, the T-Birds were able to generate more offense than they had in the previous two losses. Gropp’s line – playing with Calvin Spencer and Donovan Neuls – was big for Seattle. Saturday was also Barzal’s second game back since returning from injury. He looked good all night, making deadly passes and if not for Hill’s heroics could have ended the night with three or four assists. Barzal was playing with Roberts Lipsbergs and Nick Holowko and they spent a lot of time in the Portland zone.

“Yesterday was a little rough but today was a little better,” Barzal said. “We’re finding each other a little more with Holowko on the line, too, was working hard and he was battling. We came out minus-two or three so that’s a little bitter taste in our mouths. We’ve just got to keep building for tomorrow.”

After two months off, Barzal doesn’t show any lingering affect from his knee injury. He was playing regular shifts, playing on the power play and says he feels fine. He’s glad to be back on the ice.

“It was tough,” he said. “It’s obviously tough watching the team but they were working hard for those two months. They were playing good hockey, now that I’m back I need to be a positive asset and help contribute to more wins.”

Despite missing out on the second point Saturday night, the T-Birds hope to build on the effort as they head across the state to Spokane to take on the Chiefs. Faceoff Sunday is at 5 p.m.

Notes

• Gropp was playing in his first game back since the Top Prospects game last Thursday. “It was crazy,” Gropp said. “It was a great experience for me playing in front of a sold-out crowd with a bunch of great players. Its something I’ll never forget.”

• The Top Prospect teams are coached by Don Cherry and Bobby Orr, which is quite an experience for a young player like Gropp. “It was pretty cool,” he said. “Hockey legend, (Cherry) was a great guy, too, Bobby Orr too, they’re all gentlemen and it was a pretty cool experience.”

• With Kozun starting the first two games of this weekend’s three-in-three, Konowalchuk was debating after the game whether he was going to go with Kozun again or give Danny Mumaugh the start in Spokane on Sunday.

• The U.S. Division standings are getting tighter. Seattle, Spokane and Tri-City are all tied with 50 points apiece, which makes Sunday’s game big. The Chiefs have been struggling of late and have dropped four straight contests.

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