T-Birds take out Winterhawks 5-2 for sixth straight win

KENT – Thunderbirds forward Scott Eansor looks like he has not missed a beat.

Playing in only his second game after missing the previous nine with an injury, he is back to being a spark plug for the T-Birds. Eansor picked up three assists Saturday night as Seattle beat the Portland Winterhawks 5-2 in front of a sold out ShoWare Center crowd.

It was Seattle’s sixth straight win and eighth straight at the ShoWare Center.

“I thought the guys played a pretty hard and pretty smart game,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “We made their D turn for a lot of pucks, we hemmed them in a little bit. It was a pretty solid game.”

Seattle (15-6-1-0) was strong right from the start despite not arriving in Kent until 4 a.m. after playing the night before in Kamloops. Playing its fiercest rival in front of a loud crowd helped shake loose any cobwebs that the bus ride may have caused.

“Our players get in front of our fans here and if you’re missing a little sleep – it’s so much fun and the players get so much energy from it – it gets forgotten about real quick,” Konowalchuk said.

Eansor was one of the key players for Seattle on Saturday. He centered a line with Jamal Watson and Nick Holowko, and their speed and tenacity on the forecheck caused problems for the Portland defense.

The three also combined to score twice while picking up six points.

“Holowko is underrated, he’s fast and can make plays,” Eansor said. “Obviously Watson, we have chemistry. Three guys that can skate and the most important aspect is working hard.”

The line worked hard all night and Eansor turned in a highlight play for the T-Birds’ third goal of the game. Eansor intercepted a bad clearing pass at the Portland blue line and quickly attacked the Winterhawks net. He had Watson with him and got the puck to him. Watson beat goalie Adin Hill with a nice backhand-forehand move for his third goal of the season.

Eansor’s return has made an immediate impact as he gives the T-Birds a strong second-line center. Dealing with an injury to the head can be tough, but Eansor worked through it and is back looking as good as ever.

“I’ve had a lot worse in my career,” Eansor said. “That’s one benefit to having to overcome stuff like this in the past. It wasn’t easy but I’ve felt comfortable. The team did a really good job of getting me back in shape fast. Not rushing me and letting me see the doctors. Everything’s fine, I feel 100 percent.”

Seattle got on the board first Saturday night when Keegan Kolesar made a sharp pass to spring Mathew Barzal into the clear. He skated in and beat Hill for his sixth goal of the season.

The Winterhawks would tie it later in the first when a shot hit the post and rebounded out to Paul Bittner who snapped it past Logan Flodell.

The T-Birds came out firing in the second period to build a lead. Donovan Neuls would tip a point shot past Hill on the power play late in the frame. Eansor would set up Watson 31 seconds after that and Seattle had a 3-1 lead heading into the third period.

Bittner would get Portland (11-10-0-0) to within one again early in the third period when a Winterhawks dump in rebounded off the glass and out front. Similarly to his first goal, Bittner was able to snap it past Flodell.

Holowko responded for Seattle less than two minutes later when he banged home a loose puck in the Portland crease.

“We got it in in a big scramble,” Holowko said. “It was there and I just took a baseball swing.”

Mathew Wedman would finish the scoring for Seattle when he tipped a Turner Ottenbreit shot past Hill for Seattle’s fifth goal. Seattle got goals from five different players, which Konowalchuk liked to see.

“We want everybody contributing here,” he said. “You can’t have just one line going. They can do their part buy we want and expect everybody (to contribute). We don’t want anybody sitting back and waiting for one line to do it.”

The T-Birds ended the night outshooting Portland 36-26 as once again their strong forecheck limited an opponents offense. With a sold-out crowd the game had a definite playoff atmosphere that the Seattle players fed off of all night.

They remain unbeaten at home as the ShoWare Center is quickly becoming one of the toughest buildings for road teams to play in.

“It’s really big,” Eansor said of the home-ice win streak. “Our crowd and fans are awesome. Everything they do for us, the support they’ve given us this year has been great and really helps grow us and wins hockey games.”

The T-Birds will hit the road again on Wednesday to take on the Kelowna Rockets. Kelowna is the top team in the Western Conference and has won eight of its last nine contests.

Notes

• The T-Birds continue to have a consistent power play. They ended Saturday going 1 for 4 with the man advantage and have a power-play goal in each of their six straight wins. Portland went 1 for 6 with the man advantage.

• Barzal’s first period goal extended his scoring streak to six straight games, although he did not record an assist for only the fourth time this season.

• Ethan Bear did pick up an assist, which also extended his scoring streak to six games. Bear’s 24 points has tied him with Lethbridge’s Andrew Nielsen for second among WHL defensemen in scoring. Victoria’s Joe Hicketts is the top defenseman with 26 points.

• Flodell picked up his 10th win of the season by making 24 saves on the night.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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