Thunderbirds shut down Winterhawks | WHL

Goalie Landon Bow made 30 saves and Keegan Kolesar had two goals and an assist to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-0 victory over the Portland Winterhawks at the Moda Center on Friday night.

Bow has two consecutive shutouts after blanking the Saskatoon Blades 4-0 on Tuesday. He has a 6-1-0-0 record with three shutouts, a .954 save percentage and a 1.29 goals against average, in eight games with the T-Birds since being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos at the trade deadline.

Seattle (26-16-3-0) took a 1-0 lead on a shorthanded goal from Donovan Neuls, who got a loose puck on the Seattle goal line in the left corner and broke up ice with Kolesar. Neuls passed the puck to Kolesar in the neutral zone and then got around a Portland defenseman to create a two-on-one. From the right circle, Kolesar passed the puck back to Neuls, who one-timed Kolesar’s pass over Portland goalie Adin Hill’s blocker for his eighth goal of the season.

Neuls now has four-game goal streak.

Seattle and Portland (23-21-2-0) combined for 11 penalties in the second period. The Winterhawks had a five-on-three advantage for 39 seconds which the T-Birds killed off. The T-Birds killed off six Portland power plays.

The T-Birds made it a 2-0 lead with a power-play goal with 11 seconds left in the second period. Ryan Gropp had the puck in the right corner and centered it to Kolesar in the high slot. Kolesar took a wrist shot with Alexander True screening Hill. Kolesar’s shot hit Hill’s glove and went into the net for his 21st goal of the season.

With six minutes left in the third period the T-Birds had to kill back-to-back penalties. After killing off the penalties, Kolesar scored an empty-net goal with 1:27 left in the game. True passed the puck to Kolesar who gained the red line along the right boards. Kolesar used his body to protect the puck from a Portland defenseman and fired it into the empty net for his 22nd goal of the game.

The T-Birds outshot the Winterhawks 10-8 in the third period and 37-30 in the game.

Hill finished with 34 saves on 36 shots and his record is now 21-18-1-0.

Same teams tonight

The I-5 rivalry shifts to the ShoWare Center for a 7:05 p.m. game today. The game is the annual Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss presented by WARM 106.9. T-Birds fans are encouraged to throw teddy bears and other stuffed animals on the ice after the T-Birds’ first goal. The teddy bears and stuffed animals are collected by the WARM 106.9 Teddy Bear Patrol and given to police and fire departments who give them to children in times of emergency and crisis.

Single-game tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – No scoring. Penalties – Leth, Sea (tripping), 4:07. Iverson, Por (major-fighting), 6:02. Hauf, Sea (major-fighting), 6:02. Dougherty, Por (tripping), 16:38.

Second period – 1, Seattle, Neuls 8 (Kolesar), 3:12 (sh). 2, Seattle, Kolesar 21 (Gropp, Smith), 19:49 (pp). Penalties – Schuldhaus, Sea (hooking), 2:14. Eansor, Sea (tripping), 8:01. Neuls, Sea (checking from behind, roughing), 8:24. Abols, Por (double-minor roughing), 8:24. Ottenbreit, Sea (high-sticking), 9:22. Heinrich, Por (double-minor checking from behind), 10:37. Kolesar, Sea (roughing), 16:42. Leth, Sea (roughing), 16:42. Jones, Por (roughing), 16:42. Overhardt, Por (roughing), 16:42. Schoenborn, Por (interference), 18:31.

Third period – 3, Seattle, Kolesar 22 (True), 18:33 (en). Penalties – Kolesar, Sea (kneeing), 13:52. Leth, Sea (tripping), 15:59.

Shots on goal – Seattle 12-15-10 37, Portland 12-10-8 30. Goalies – Seattle, Bow 30 shots-30 saves (15-15-4-0); Portland, Hill 36-34 (21-18-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-5; Portland 0-6. A – 9,074. Referees – Ryan Benbow, Kevin Bennett. Linesmen – Michael McGowan, Bevan Mills.