Thunderbirds edge Winterhawks in 3-2 shootout win

PORTLAND, Ore. – The Thunderbirds have managed to turn their former house of horrors into a fun house.

The T-Birds skated out of the Moda Center in Portland Saturday night with a 3-2 shootout win over the struggling Winterhawks. Seattle was again paced by Mathew Barzal, who chipped in a goal and an assist along with the shootout winner in Seattle’s third straight win in Portland.

Seattle also got a strong performance on the back end by goalie Taran Kozun, who made 32 saves on the night and stoned the Portland shooters during the shootout.

Barzal and Kozun combined to win the shootout and earn a big second point for the T-Birds. Barzal scored with a nice backhand move that got Portland goalie Brendan Burke down and out. It was a similar move that Barzal used to convert in the shoot out last week in Portland. After the game the Seattle star was reluctant to give away too many secrets about his move.

“I saw him poke check early so I went with it. I don’t know if I should be telling you this, just in case Burke’s reading it for next time,” he said with a smile.

As has been the theme early in the season, the T-Birds were resilient in this one. They fell behind in the first period but overcame it to pick up their second straight road overtime win.

“Resilient team,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “They just kept playing, and I thought we had some chances there to extend the lead to 3-1 to give ourselves a little cushion there but it didn’t happen. They score but we found a way to get that point in the shootout.”

Seattle (4-3-0-0) took the early punch from the Winterhawks (1-7-0-2), who were desperate to pick up their first home win of the season. Portland started the game with heavy pressure and outshot Seattle early 10-2. That pressure resulted in Oliver Bjorkstrand stealing the puck from a Seattle defender, walking in alone and snapping a top-shelf shot to give the home team the early lead.

The T-Birds put themselves in some danger just before the period would end. Defenseman Evan Wardley caught Portland star Nic Petan with a big hit at the blue line and was given a five-minute major for charging on the play. Petan ramained on the ice injured and would not return. The result was five minutes of power play time for Portland, and the T-Birds would be down a defenseman as Wardley was also given a game misconduct and most likely is looking at a suspension.

Seattle managed to kill off the penalty and head into the locker room only down a goal, and perhaps had managed to steal some of the momentum back.

“After the first ten minutes I thought our guys settled in better,” Konowalchuk said. “Guys were saying the right things between periods – ‘Let’s just get back to playing our game here, we’re fine.'”

The T-Birds wasted no time in the second period to get the game even. Just under two minutes into the period Barzal fished the puck off the boards and sent it to Justin Hickman with a head of steam. Hickman entered the Portland zone and got the puck to Ryan Gropp on the wing. Gropp fired a wrist shot that beat Burke for his fourth goal on the year.

That top line for the T-Birds was dangerous all night, creating chances and holding onto the puck.

“They were dangerous, everyone was,” Konowalchuk said. “Against the offense they have, everyone had to pitch in. Barzal’s line was good, Eansor’s line was good. … Everybody pitched in.”

With the return of Hickman on Friday, Seattle’s top line was reunited, and on Saturday they were the best line for either team. Barzal is happy to have his captain and winger back on the ice.

“It’s just great,” he said. “You can just tell around the locker room that everybody’s excited when he’s in the lineup. He’s creating space out there, he’s winning battles and I couldn’t be happier to have him back.”

Seattle would take its first lead of the night a few minutes later on the power play. Barzal skated into the zone and fired a wrist shot towards Burke. The puck hit the Winterhawks goalie but rebounded high into the air, over his shoulder and fell just over the goal line. It was the third straight game that Barzal has scored a goal.

The T-Birds had a strong third period that again saw them generate a number of quality chances, and if not for a number of good saves by Burke may have extended their lead. They couldn’t do that, however, and with just over two minutes left in the contest fell victim to a bad bounce of their own. A failed clearing attempt sent a bouncing puck to Portland’s Miles Koules in the high slot. The 20-year-old took a slap shot and the fluttering puck caught Kozun by surprise and beat him high.

That tied the game and sent the contest into an overtime period that saw both teams come close to winning it. Neither goalie relented, however, and the contest had to be decided by the shootout.

Early in the season the young T-Birds roster would struggle with consistency, what Konowalchuk would refer to as playing desperate hockey for all 60 minutes. The past two nights it appears that his charges have found that desperation with two solid performances in a row.

“I think they’re starting to figure out the line they need to play above to give themselves a chance to win the hockey game,” Konowalchuk said. “A bit of it was learning and now it’s just keeping that bar up there and I think the more we can do it the more the guys see the results.”

Seattle has a busy week ahead of it as it will play two week-night games against Spokane before back-to-back home games with Prince George and Kamloops on the weekend.

Notes

• Konowalchuk was able to get Scott Eansor’s line out against the Bjorkstrand line a lot on Saturday night. The gritty center and his line mates did a good job in containing the high-scoring Columbus Blue Jackets prospect.

“We know what Eansor can do,” Konowalchuk said. “And Keegan (Kolesar) and (Florian) Baltram are fitting into that line. They’re all smart players who work hard and do it the right way. I thought Eansor was really digging in on that puck, he likes to make it miserable for guys.”

• The T-Birds have now played three games that have gone into overtime and two that were decided by the shootout. They have won all three, and Barzal is 2-for-2 in shootout attempts.

• Along with his three-game goal scoring streak, Barzal also has a four-game point streak. He leads the team with 10 points and during his streak has picked up three goals and five assists.

• With Wardley ejected from the game the T-Birds had to play the majority of the night with only five defensemen. That meant a lot of guys had to step up and play more minutes. Most notable was rookie Turner Ottenbreit. The 17-year-old, who was recently acquired from Saskatoon for Adam Henry, was solid all night. Konowalchuk had confidence enough in Ottenbreit to throw him on the ice during the four-on-four overtime period.

“Really strong by Ottenbreit. I thought he played some very valuable minutes for us,” the coach said. “He looked like a veteran player out there when he had to step up and that’s a big reason why we won.”

• Wardley will undoubtedly be suspended for his charging major in the first period. He has been suspended before and the hit resulted in an injury to Petan. It will be interesting to see what Seattle does with its defensive pairings as they currently do not have another blue-liner on their roster. Shea Theodore is still injured and Kevin Wolfe was recently assigned to a lower level junior hockey league.

Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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