Goalie Roddy Ross made 43 saves and stopped three of four Portland Winterhawks in the shootout to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-3 WHL victory Saturday night at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in the Rose City.
Seattle (20-22-32) is in the second wild-card playoff spot in the Western Conference.
Ross had 14 saves in the first period, 13 in the second period, 15 more in the third period and one save in overtime.
Ross stopped Portland’s first shooter in the shootout, Cross Hanas. The T-Birds’ Matthew Rempe then beat Portland goalie Joel Hofer with a backhand shot over the blocker.
Ross stopped Seth Jarvis, and then Hofer made the save on Conner Roulette.
Jaydon Dureau beat Ross in close to tie the shootout 1-1. Andrej Kukuca came off the bench with the chance to win the game, but Hofer made the save.
Ross stopped Portland’s fourth shooter, Reece Newkirk. Seattle sent out Simon Kubicek, its their fourth shooter, who skated in on Hofer and beat the goalie through the legs for the winning goal.
Portland took a 1-0 lead at 4:01 of the first period on a goal from Hanas.
Seattle tied the game 1-1 at 15:13 of the first on Jared Davidson’s sixth goal of the season. Max Patterson forced a turnover in the right corner with his long reach. Patterson got the loose puck and fired it to Davidson all alone in the slot. Davidson wired the past Hofer’s blocker.
Hanas scored 24 seconds into the second to give Portland a 2-1 lead.
Kukuca came right back and tied the game 19 seconds after Portland’s second goal. Cade McNelly crossed the puck from the left side to Kubicek on the right side of the defensive zone. Kubicek then passed the puck up the ice to Kukuca to put him on a partial break. Kukuca beat Hofer through the legs for his 17th goal of the season.
Portland took the lead back, 3-2, at 6:14 of the second on a power-play goal by Simon Knak.
Cade McNelly helped set up the T-Birds third goal, at 12:12 of the second. McNelly led a four-on-two break and as he crossed the blue line passed the puck to Lucas Ciona on his right. Ciona crossed the puck to Kukuca in the left circle and McNelly drove the then. Kukuca took a wrist shot with McNelly screening Hofer and beat the goalie on the glove side for his second goal of the game.
Notes
The T-Birds travel to Prince George for back-to-back games against the Cougars on Tuesday and Wednesday. Both games start at 7 p.m. This will be the first meeting between the teams this seaso. …
The T-Birds next home game is Saturday, Feb. 8 against the Everett Silvertips at 6:05 p.m. Single-game tickets are on sale online and at the ShoWare box office.
Fans who purchase the 24-flex ticket package will be able to select any available premium seat for any game, in any ticket combination, during the 2019-20 season.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Portland, Hanas 15 (Knak), 4:01. 2, Seattle, Davidson 6 (Patterson), 15:13. Penalties – Stefan, Por (hooking), 9:56. Bauer, Sea (holding), 16:38.
Second period – 3, Portland, Hanas 16 (Brondberg), :24. 4, Seattle, Kukuca (Rempe, Kubicek), :43. 5, Portland, Knak 10 (Hanas), 6:14 (pp). 6, Seattle, Kukuca 18 (Ciona, McNelly), 12:12. Penalties – Uchacz, Sea (tripping), 5:13. Cicek, Por (roughing), 17:30. McNelly, Sea (roughing), 17:30. Rybinski, Sea (roughing), 17:30.
Third period – No scoring. Penalties – Hanas, Por (kneeing), 15:39.
Overtime – No scoring. Penalties – Gricius, Por (slashing), 2:57.
Shootout – Seattle 2 (Rempe G, Roulette NG, Kukuca NG, Kubicek G). Portland 1 ( NG, Jarvis NG, Dureau G, Newkirk NG).
Shots on goal – Seattle 6-7-5-5 23, Portland 15-15-15-1 46. Goalies – Seattle, Ross 46 shots-43 saves (16-16-3-2); Portland, Hofer 23-20 (26-5-3-1). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Portland 1-3. Referees – Fraser Lawrence, Mark Pearce. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Nathan Van Oosten.
