The Portland Winterhawks stopped the Seattle Thunderbirds’ playoff push Sunday night at Memorial Coliseum with an 8-2 victory.
Seattle (25-45-1-1) needed to win the game against Portland to tie the Everett Silvertips (22-40-2-8) for eighth place in the Western Conference playoff standings. A tie would have forced a tiebreaker game between the T-Birds and Silvertips for the final playoff spot. The loss ends the T-Birds’ season.
Seattle goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 38 of 46 shots in what is most likely his final game as a T-Bird. He is a signed Colorado Avalanche prospect and it is expected to join the Lake Erie Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Avalanche, in the next few days.
Pickard ends this season with 25-37-1-1 record. He finishes his WHL career as the WHL all time leader in saves with 7,727 and minutes played with 14,025.
Seattle (25-44-1-1) opened the scoring at 4:06 of the first period. Shea Theodore got to a looks puck in the neutral zone on a T-Birds power play. Theodore skated into the right circle and put hard wrist shot on goal. Portland goalie Brendan Burke got a piece of the shot but not all of it and the puck slid over the line.
Ty Rattie tied the game 1-1 at 4:17 of the first. Marcel Noebels had the only assist on the goal.
The Winterhawks took a 2-1 lead at 9:51 of the first on a power-play goal from Troy Rutkowski. Oliver Gabriel and Noebels were credited with the assist.
Rattie extended the Winterhawks lead to 3-1 with a unassisted shorthanded goal at 18:23 of the third.
Portland (49-19-3-1) outshot Seattle 17-11 in the first period.
Burke Gallimore got the T-Birds back in the game when he scored at 7:45 of the second period. Colin Jacobs found Gallimore in the slot and he put a laser beam of a wrist shot on goal. His shot hit Burke’s glove and went into the net.
Gabriel gave the Winterhawks the two-goal lead back at 9:36 of the second. Taylor Leier had the only assist.
Derrick Pouliot scored for Portland at 12:27 of the second to extend Portland’s lead to 5-2. Rutkowski and Cam Reid had the assists.
Joey Baker made it a 6-2 Portland lead with two seconds left in the second. Reid had the only assist on the goal.
Derrick Pouliot scored for Portland at 12:27 of the second to extend Portland’s lead to 5-2. Rutkowski and Cam Reid had the assists.
Joey Baker made it a 6-2 Portland lead with two seconds left in the second. Reid had the only assist on the goal.
Portland outshot Seattle 13-10 in the second period and 30-21 in shots after 40 minutes.
Gabriel scored two goals in the third period to get the Winterhawks final two goals. He scored unassisted 23 seconds into the third and then struck on the power play at 3:17 of the third. Pouliot and Rattie had the assists on Gabriel’s third goal.
The Winterhawks outshot the T-Birds 16-10 in the third period and 46-31 in the game.
Burke made 29 saves on 31 shots and his record is now 7-2-1-1.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Theodore 4, 4:06 (pp). 2, Portland, Rattie 56 (Noebels), 4:17. 2, Portland, Rutkowski 13 (Gabriel, Noebels), 9:51 (pp). 4, Portland, Rattie 57, 18:23 (sh). Penalties – Trott, Por (hooking), 3:38. Lockhart, Sea (hooking), 6:31.Deagle, Sea (cross checking), 8:30. Viveiros, Por (roughing), 17:35.
Second period – 5, Gallimore 22 (Jacobs), 7:45. 6, Portland, Gabriel 18 (Leier), 9:36. 7, Portland, Pouliot 11 (Rutkowski, Reid), 12:27. 8, Portland, Baker 4 (Reid), 19:58. Penalties – Wagner, Por (checking from behind), 4:59. Swenson, Sea (roughing), 10:33. Baker, Por (roughing), 10:33.
Third period – 9, Portland, Gabriel 19, :23. 10, Portland, Gabriel 20 (Pouliot, Rattie), 3:17 (pp). Penalties – Machacek, Sea (charging), 2:04. Wardley, Sea (cross checking), 2:49. Wagner, Sea (interference), 3:50.
Shots on goal – Seattle 11-10-10 31. Portland 17-13-16 46. Goalies – Seattle, Pickard 46 shots-38 saves (25-37-1-1); Portland, Burke 31-29 (7-2-1-1). Power plays – Seattle 1-2; Portland 2-6. A – 7,945. Referee – Trevor Hansen, Sean Raphael. Linesmen – Bevan Mills, Chris Sweeting.
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