Thunderbirds come back to take Game 1 against Portland 4-3

The T-Birds scored twice late in the third period to come from behind and edge out the Portland Winterhawks 4-3 in Game 1 of their playoff series.

BY ANDY EIDE

Mar 29, 2015, 2:09 AM Updated: 11:39 am

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PORTLAND, Ore. – The Seattle Thunderbirds skated into Portland Saturday night and drew first blood in their first round best-of-seven playoff series.

The T-Birds scored twice late in the third period to come from behind and edge out the Winterhawks 4-3 at Portland’s Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Seattle got two goals from Mathew Barzal – including the game winner – and 34 saves from Taran Kozun to take a 1-0 series lead.

Barzal scored the game winner at the 17:18 mark of the final frame after a nice feed from Ryan Gropp to spring him in close.

“It was pretty cool,” Barzal said. “It was a high intense game, the pace was real high and I thought both teams played a good game. It was good to get the first win.”

Gropp and Barzal teamed up for Seattle’s first goal – on its first shot of the game – a minute into the contest. Seattle jumped out to a two-goal lead before Portland tied it up in the second period.

The third period would be full of dramatics from both sides.

With the score tied, Gropp blew past Portland defenseman Blake Heinrich, who tripped him, earning him a penalty shot. It was a big part of the game as Gropp had a chance to put Seattle up. Gropp’s shot went high and wide as it appeared that goalie Adin Hill may have had a piece of it.

As disappointing as that was for Seattle, things looked more grim ten seconds later when Evan Weinger broke in and swept the puck past Kozun to give Portland a 3-2 lead 6:27 into the final period.

Like they have all season however, the T-Birds shook it off and fought back.

“They just play,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said of his young team. “We tell our guys to just play. You can’t control the results and it could of been a pretty demoralizing thing. We don’t score on the penalty shot and they get a break away and score … Guys kept playing and found a way to get back in the game.”

Seattle kept playing and started generating chances. For a while it looked like it would not be able to find the equalizer. The T-Birds hit a post and were stopped by Hill on loose pucks in the slot. It had the feeling of one of those kind of nights.

That’s when Nolan Volcan got the puck and raced past a Portland defender to get a shot off on Hill. The Portland goalie made the save, but Scott Eansor was there to pot the rebound and tie the game up again.

It was a big goal in what was a big night for Eansor. Not only did he score the goal, but he and his linemates, Volcan and Donovan Neuls, shut out Portland’s top line.

Eansor’s line took 18 shifts against the Oliver Bjorkstrand, Nic Petan and Paul Bittner line. That line is one of the best in the WHL but did not score on Saturday night.

Bjorkstrand had scored 13 goals against the T-Birds during the regular season and holding him off the score sheet was huge.

“They’re a great line and we did pretty good against them for the first game,” Eansor said. “It was pretty challenging to keep up with those guys. They’re really hard to play against and we were even today and we have to keep it going through the series,”

For Eansor, it was another big playoff goal. Last year, he busted out offensively and scored four times during Seattle’s nine playoff games.

“I take pride in the playoffs,” Eansor said. “I feel like big players show up at big times and this should be a lot of fun. Especially for the guys that this is the last kick of the can and it’s really important.

“You do it for those guys, not really for yourself. You do it for the team.”

With Seattle on the road and unable to dictate the matchups, it knew that other lines would have to play against the Bjorkstrand line at times. Eansor and company had the most work, but all of Seattle’s lines held their own.

“They were out against a lot of different guys at different times,” Konowalchuk said of Bjorkstrand’s line. “It was a real good team effort and you’ve got to be on your toes every second. If we can do that it can sure help to win a hockey game.”

After Barzal gave Seattle the lead it still had some work to do.

The T-Birds took two late penalties, the last one coming with under a minute left, and would have to keep the league’s fifth-best power-play unit off the board. The T-Birds blocked shots, got some big saves from Kozun and held the Winterhawks at bay both times.

“Huge PKs,” Konowalchuk said. “A couple (penalties) we’d like to avoid, I think we could have avoided. We’ll talk about that but big PKs and I thought we blocked shots and took away shots.”

Portland would end the night 1-for-3 with the man advantage.

Seattle came out of the gates strong and Barzal scored on its first shot just a minute into the game. The T-Birds had a good jump, were physical and were winning puck battles.

They would go up 2-0 later in the period when Cory Millette scored a power-play goal on a rebound from right in front of the net.

“Good start,” Konowalchuk said. “Any time you can come in on the road and jump on a team and get a quick lead, you’ll take it. But you can see how good they are and made us battle back. They didn’t quit either, they’ve been through this a time or two and didn’t quit either.”

Portland didn’t quit and would get on the board with just five seconds left in the opening frame when Heinrich potted a rebound after pinching from the point.

The Winterhawks would tie the game in the second when former Thunderbird Adam Henry scored a power-play goal on a point shot. The two teams would end the second period all square, which set up the final twenty minutes’ heroics.

With the win the T-Birds take the early lead in the series and have stolen home ice advantage back. After the game, the Seattle players were happy but knew they had a long road ahead of them.

The first step of that road is Sunday afternoon when they will play Game 2. They knew they couldn’t enjoy Saturday’s win for too long.

“I’d say about 15 minutes,” Barzal said. “Kind of stretch out, ride the bike a little bit. Get the lactic acid out and be ready for tomorrow.”

Game 2 will be played in the Moda Center and faces off at 5 o’clock.

Notes

• Seattle has won Game 1 of the first round for the third straight year. They are 1-1 in the previous two opening round series.

• Adam Henry’s goal was the second goal he’s scored in a Portland-Seattle game this season. In the season’s first game, Henry scored for Seattle as the T-Birds went on to beat Portland. He was traded to Saskatoon later and then shipped to Portland at the trade deadline.

• The game was played with a great deal of discipline by both teams. They combined for only five minor penalties. Seattle would go 1-for-2 on the power play.

• Saturday night’s game was played in the Veterans Memorial Coliseum due to the Portland Trailblazers playing next door at the Moda Center.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.