Hawks Blow Out Everett 7-3; Take 2-1 Series Lead

It was a markedly different game from the first two games in the series on Wednesday night up in Everett. For one thing the first two games had audiences of 9,000+, this one had 2,000. Also, Austin Lotz, who had been the best player in the series so far, had a terrible game and was pulled after the 2nd period.

Portland overcame a little adversity on the way up to Everett after their bus broke down right outside of the rink. Once they got up to Everett and started the game Wednesday night, they had to immediately battle back from a one goal deficit as well.

Only 3:50 into the game, after Portland Defenseman Tyler Wotherspoon pinched down into the Everett zone, Everett broke out against the flow of play and 17 year old forward Dawson Leedahl executed a perfect 3 on 1, with Portland's Nic Petan forced to play defense and it was quickly 1-0 Everett. This lead lasted until 14:41 into the period, when after Ayrton Nikkel took a kneeing penalty, the Hawks got several excellent scoring chances, setting up Petan to bury it backdoor on a wide open net.

Oliver Bjorkstrand

The second period had been pivotal in the first 2 games and last night was no different. Portland would end up taking over the game after scoring 4 straight in the period. First at the 3:15 mark, Ty Rattie finished an odd man rush with his 3rd of the playoffs and it was 2-1 Portland. Then Nic Petan sniped one from the left faceoff circle, picking the top glove-side corner and the Hawks were off and running. Landon Oslanski would give the Hawks their second power-play of the night and Troy Rutkowski tapped in a loose puck in front, converting the Hawks second power-play. Oliver Bjorkstrand would join the scoring party after a great feed in from from a driving Chase De Leo and it was 5-1 to close the period.

Everett seemed to get a little jump in the 3rd period. Joshua Winquist and Dawson Leedahl scored only 21 seconds apart at the 6 minute mark and it was suddenly 5-3. Derrick Pouliot would all but seal the game with his first of the playoffs only 48 seconds after Leedahl's second of the game, making it 6-3. The way he scored the goal, took what energy the crowd had completely out of the building. He fired a weak wrist shot on Daniel Cotton, who had replaced Lotz, from center ice, in order to change defensive pairings. Cotton caught the puck and then promptly lost it into his own net, with no pressure from Portland.  Brendan Leipsic would further greet Cotton with a power play goal to close the scoring at 7-3 with 10:52 left in the game.

Mac Carruth had his worst game of the playoffs, giving up 3 goals on only 13 shots. Lotz gave up 5 goals on 24 shots and Cotton gave up two goals on 6 shots. Portland was 3/5 on the power play and Everett was 0/2.

3 Stars:
#3- Derrick Pouliot- Seems to play his best games up in Everett. Scored one goal and had 2 assists. Both he and his defensive partner: Troy Rutkowski had another great night, setting up chances and keeping Everett from getting any easy looks at the net.

Nic Petan

#2- Brendan Leipsic- Once again got involved in the after the whistle shenanigans early and was inspired to another great game. He finished with a goal and 2 assists.

#1- Nic Petan- Best game of the series so far for Petan, with 2 goals and 2 assists. He showed a lot of confidence and the puck seemed to be glued to his stick at times.

Random Notes:
-#2 Ayrton Nikkel: a mid season acquisition from Brandon was sat for games one and two in favor of 15 year old d-man Kevin Adam. One would think he will not see the ice again this series after taking 2 stupid penalties that led to two Hawks power play goals.
-Portland has seemed to adjust to Everett using Landon Oslanski on their 3rd forward line. He did not seem to be much of a factor all game.

Manraj Hayer

-Everett's Manraj Hayer, who had been playing on their top line, left the game with a broken finger after blocking a shot.
-Dawson Leedahl, playing in his 16 year old season, had 3 goals all year long and had 2 in this one, playing on the 2nd line.
-Portland's top line, as well as, Seth Jones and Tyler Wotherspoon did not play the final 10 minutes of the game.
-Medicine Hat shocked the Saskatoon Blades by sweeping the Memorial Cup champions with a 3-1 win. The Tigers were the 7th seed in the east and the Blades were the #3. They will now have almost 2 months off before hosting the Memorial Cup in mid-may.
-Kelowna beat Seattle 4-0 avoiding the sweep and sending the series back to Kelowna for Saturday's game down 3-1 in the series.
-Edmonton took a 3-1 series lead with a 4-0 win in Kottenay.
-Red Deer completed the 4 game sweep in Prince Albert with a 3-2 win.
-The WHL admitted that they missed the hand pass that led to Calgary's game winning goal in over time. Former Tri City American Brooks Macek gloved the puck into the crease and Victor Rask banged in the loose puck for the 1-0 win and 3-1 series lead. Now if they will only admit that they got the situation wrong in penalizing the Winterhawks franchise...
-Spokane is leading Tri City 2 games to 1, heading into tonight's game 4 in Tri City.
-Kamloops also has a 2-1 lead on Victoria going into tonight's game 4 in Victoria.