Three games in four days was what stood in front of the Portland Winterhawks this week, with a pair against Seattle and an opening volley versus Wenatchee. The Wild sit in 10th place, but they are 4 points back of the eighth and final slot in the postseason, and jockeying for position is critical as we are well within 18 games of the season’s end and some much closer than that.
The Wild will need to win several games to be in the mix this year and have the Hawks on their home turf to start. Wenatchee scored back-to-back breakaway goals six and a half minutes apart and opened up a 2-0 lead. As the announcer was going through the second goal announcement, Kyle Chyzowski scored on a reset lineup during a powerplay. The initial shot didn’t go through, but the Hawks were able to gather the puck, reset the powerplay, and score. Towards the end of the period, the Wild went up by two again with a pass near the goalmouth, and Stebetak, unable to get across in time, resulted in the third goal of the period.
The Hawks got one back as Alex Weiermair ended on a redirect in front of the net near the start of the period. Wenatchee added yet another less than five minutes later to increase the lead back to a pair,
Wenatchee went up by a pair again as they forced the puck between two Hawk defenders and to the right of Stebetak. Jordan Duguay brought the Hawks closer again with an extra effort in front of the Wild net.
It seemed that for every answer made by the Hawks, another question was posed by Wenatchee. Now 4 on 4, the Wild again solved Stebetak with a cross-goal mouth shot, and the Wild led 5-3 at the end of two.
Carsyn Dyck, on the redirect for the Hawks, made the score 5-4, and the Hawks tied it up just past the midway point of the third by Kyle Chyzowski on his second of the night, and he found the open net to bang it home. With that, the two teams headed for overtime, and it was Josh Zakreski with a lacrosse-type salvo into the Wild net to finish the night at 6-5 Hawks. Shots favored the Wild 30-25, and the Hawks went 1-3 on the powerplay while holding Wenatchee to a goose egg at 0-6
The next night, Seattle was another one of those desperate teams desperate to make the postseason. They had a game in hand over the three teams below them, but they were unlikely to catch the seventh spot as the distance was 13 points.
That said, Seattle opened the scoring on a very early powerplay with what looked to be a hook shot from almost behind the goal line, and the Thunderbirds had the early lead. Diego Buttazzoni was credited with the goal on the powerplay as his initial shot hit the crossbar and may have accidentally been tapped in by a Seattle defender. Less than 90 seconds later, Mattej Pekar fired one from a few feet in front of the Hawks net to retake the lead. Up by two went the Thunderbirds, where the first shot hit the goalpost, only for it to come back to the initial shooter. The pass across the goalline was easy pickings for a goal as the lead was now 3-1. The Hawks would add one just past the midway mark of the first period as Cole Slobodian buried it from the slot, and the scoring was done for the period at 3-2.
In the second, only one goal was scored, as Pekar got his second of the night after a flurry in front of the net. Pekar was sliding on his stomach after being knocked down and made a pool ball shot to double the score.
Neither side was able to add more pucks to the net for goals, and the final score was Seattle 4, Portland 2. Portland outshot Seattle 42-31 and was 1 -5 on the powerplay, with Seattle perfect 1-1.
The two teams met for an afternoon game on Presidents Day and Kids Day, as 6300 took in the I-5 battle. Portland seems to like to come from behind, and this was no exception, as the Birds scored just over 6 minutes in. That lead would last less than two minutes, as Ryan Miller finished off the play to leave the teams deadlocked at 1 at the end of 1.
The second started like the first, with an early Seattle goal. The Hawk’s Alex Weiermair tied it up about 3 minutes later. The shooting gallery by Seattle at 18 shots in the period finally paid off as, just past the midway point of the second frame, Nathan Pilling notched his 25th of the year. Towards the end of the period, the only powerplay goal was scored as Alex Weiermair capitalized on his second of the game to tie it up at 3. Just four minutes later, Seattle’s Pilling received a match penalty attempt to injure, coupled with a game misconduct, and the Thunderbirds were without their strong goal scorer for the rest of the night.
The third period was tame in shots compared to the second one, but the Hawks, who were on the low shot side in the period, found a way to eke out a goal. Diego Buttazzoni, who had a solid year, raised the flag on goal 28 as the game-winner, and the Hawks held on for the final 90 seconds to win 4-3. Shots favored Seattle 39-24, but Portland was 1-3 on the powerplay, with the goose egg to Seattle 0-5.
The Hawks now look to next weekend with three games in as many nights: up in Everett to face the league-leading Sivertips and a pair of home games as they host Wenatchee Wild and Spokane Chiefs. The following week, they have three road games, all against BC Division opponents: Kamloops Blazers and then a pair in Victoria against the Royals.
Postseason will now see Medicine Hat Tigers as the first entrant in the Eastern Division, with Victoria Royals and Spokane Chiefs going through to the postseason in the Western Conference. At 61 points, the Hawks are tied with Tri-City for fifth, but the Hawks hold three games in hand. The Vancouver Giants are currently in the seventh spot at 60 points but give two games in hand to Portland and have one themselves in the battle with Tri-City. As the season begins its final descent, there is much more hockey to go.
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