Winterhawks down Thunderbirds, 8-4

The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 8-4 Friday night at the Rose Garden in Portland.

Seattle is now 24-38-7-2 and in seventh place in the Western Conference playoff standings with 57 points. The T-Birds are three points ahead the eighth-place Everett Silvertips, who clinched a playoff spot Friday night when the Prince George Cougars were defeated 5-2 by the Kamloops Blazers.

The T-Birds and Silvertips are now battling it out for the seventh and eighth seeds in the Western Conference. The T-Birds have one game remaining in the regular season and it is at 7:05 Saturday night at the ShoWare Center against the Winterhawks. The Silvertips have two games remaining in their season. They play the Victoria Cougars on Saturday in Everett and then host the Tri-City Americans on Sunday.

The T-Birds will host Games 3 and 4 of a first round playoff series against either the Portland Winterhawks or Kelowna Rockets. Game 3 will be Tuesday, March 26, at 7:05 p.m. at the ShoWare Center.

Game 4 will be Wednesday, March 27, at 7:05 p.m. at ShoWare Center. The dates for Game 1 and 2 of the first round will be announced one an opponent has been determined.

Game 3 and Game 4 single game playoff tickets are now on sale 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 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

Portland (55-12-1-2) took a 1-0 lead at 11:51 of the first period when Brendan Leipsic scored. Nic Petan and Ty Rattie had the assists.

Leipsic extended the lead to 2-0 with an unassisted goal at 17:42 of the first.

Seattle cut the Portland lead to one goal with 19 seconds left in the first with a power-play goal. Riley Sheen fired the puck from the right corner to Jesse Forsberg at the left point. Forsberg carried the puck towards the left corner and fired a shot on goal from a sharp angle. Portland goalie Brendan Burke stopped the puck but Seth Swenson was there to bang the rebound through the goalie’s legs for his 19th goal of the season.

Seattle outshot Portland 13-11 in the first period.

The T-Birds tied the game 2-2 1:20 into the second period. Swenson got the puck along the left boards and fed Justin Hickman in the high slot. Hickman wristed a shot past Burke on the blocker side for his 12th goal of the season.

Portland took the lead back at 2:50 of the second when Ty Rattie scored. Petan and Troy Rutkowski were credited with the assists.

The T-Birds came right back and tied the game 3-3 at 3:28 of the second. Mitch Elliot moved the puck from the right corner to Taylor Green behind the Portland net. Green centered the puck from behind the net to Adam Kambeitz to the right of the goal. Kambeitz beat Burke over the glove for the tying goal.

Oliver Bjorkstrand scored an unassisted goal at 17:59 of the second to give the Winterhawks a 4-3 lead.

The T-Birds outshot the Winterhawks 15-13 in the second period and led 28-24 in shots after two periods.

Leipsic scored a shorthanded goal at 3:58 of the third period to put the Winterhawks up 5-3. Taylor Peters had the only assist on the goal, which was Leipsic’s third of the game.

Rattie scored a 5-on-3 power-play goal at 12:34 of the third to give the Winterhawks a 5-3 lead.  Petan and Rutkowski had the assists.

Tyler Wotherspoon scored a power-play goal at 13:25 of third to make it a 6-3 lead for the Winterhawks. Rutkowski and Chase De Leo were credited with the assists.

Roberts Lipsbergs scored at 14:25 of the third to get the T-Birds fourth goal. Connor Honey fed the puck from the right corner to Lipsbergs coming into the slot. Lipsbergs beat Burke with a hard wrist shot low on the glove side.

Joey Baker scored a power-play goal at 19:20 of the third for Portland’s final goal. Josh Hanson and Derrick Pouliot had the assists.

Portland outshot Seattle 12-7 in the third period and 36-35 in the game.

Seattle goalie Danny Mumaugh stopped 28 of 36 shots and his record is now 1-7-2-0.

Burke made 31 saves on 35 shots and his record is now 22-5-1-0.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Portland, Leipsic 46 (Petan, Rattie), 11:51. 2, Portland, Leipsic 47, 17:13. 3, Seattle, Swenson 19 (Forsberg, Sheen), 19:41 (pp). Penalties – Honey, Sea (slashing), 8:30. Pouliot, Por (hooking), 17:42.

Second period – 4, Seattle, Hickman 12 (Swenson), 5, Portland, Rattie 46 (Petan, Rutkowski), 2:50. 6, Seattle, Kambeitz 14 (Green, Elliot), 3:28. 7, Portland, Bjorkstrand 30, 17:59. Penalties – Kambeitz, Sea (high-sticking), 5:25. Smith, Sea (hooking), 14:31.Baker, Por (kneeing), 18:17.

Third period – 8, Portland, Leipsic 48 (Peters), 3:58 (sh). 9, Portland, Rattie 47 (Petan, Rutkowski), 12:34 (pp). 10, Portland, Wotherspoon 7 (Rutkowski, De Leo), 13:25 (pp). 11, Seattle, Lipsbergs 26 (Honey), 14:25. 12, Portland, Baker 1 (Hanson, Pouliot), 19:20 (pp).  Penalties – De Leo, Por (slashing), 3:36. Lockhart, Sea (instigator, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 12:07. De Champlain, Por (major-fighting), 12:07. Johnson, Sea (roughing), 12:07. Sanvido, Sea (major-fighting), 17:35. MacPherson, Por (major-fighting), 17:35. Forsberg, Sea (instigator, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 19:30.  De Champlain, Por (major-fighting), 19:30.

Shots on goal – Seattle 13-15-7 35, Portland 11-13-12 36. Goalies – Seattle, Mumaugh 36 shots-28 saves (1-7-2-0); Portland, Burke 35-31 (22-5-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-3; Portland 3-8. A – 10,947. Referees – Tyler Adair, Steve Papp. Linesmen – Jarrod Bowman, Nathan Van Oosten.