Winterhawks Hold off Americans 5-4, then Shut Down Brandon 5-0

Turgeon had two points in the win

Portland 5 Tri-City 4

The Portland Winterhawks had not been able to string together consecutive victories this season until Saturday night. They jumped out to a three goal lead on their U.S. Division rivals the Tri City Americans, before holding on for a 5-4 win, a night after shutting out Everett.

The Hawks were able to kill off an Americans' two man advantage early in the first period, before a great cycle by the Keegan Iverson, Dominic Turgeon and Alex Schoenborn unit led to Schoenborn getting a sneaky backhand shot off in the slot that Turgeon slammed home the rebound on for the opening goal. The Hawks would get another goal late in the period when Paul Bittner, who was just working the puck in deep while his linemates changed, saw an opportunity and made a diving pass to an oncoming Colton Veloso. The puck bounced on Veloso before he corralled it and sniped it past Tri Cities Evan Sarthou for his second goal in as many nights and third on the season.

After Portland killed off another American man advantage (their fourth in a row) they scored a crazy goal. Jack Dougherty fired a slap shot towards Sarthou that deflected up into the air. Sarthou dove for the puck with his glove hand but misjudged it and came up with air as Dougherty's shot found the net. The 3-0 lead for Portland came on a shot that Sarthou would assuredly want back. His teammates would get one goal back though before the period ended though. Portland's Caleb Jones was trying to keep the puck in at the blue line under pressure from Jordan Topping and he turned the puck over. Beau McCue scooped it up in his own zone and sent Topping in alone on Adin Hill. Topping beat Hill over his right shoulder and the period closed out with Portland taking a 3-1 lead into the final frame.

The Americans have been able to come back from bigger deficits earlier this season and Saturday night would be no exception as they came back to tie the score before nine minutes had passed in the third. First, while both sides had four skaters on the ice, 16-year-old forward Michael Rasmussen won aboard battle and got a pass out to Vladislav Lukin in front. Brendan De Jong could not quite reach Lukin in time and the Russian import Hill in tonight. Then, Taylor Vickerman made a power move to the net and the rebound came out to Brian Williams with Hill down and out. Williams fired it over Hill and Portland's three goal lead had vanished. In what is a great sign moving forward, however, the Hawks stormed back and after getting their first and only power play on the night, Caleb Jones fired a shot past a screened Sarthou for the 4-3 lead. Then Turgeon partially won a board battle in deep and Iverson, who had his stick tied up, kicked the puck to a wide open Schoenborn in the slot. The overage forward made no mistake and beat Sarthou for the 5-3 lead. Tri City would get one goal back after Maxwell James deflected a point shot from Dylan Coghlan home, but it would not be enough and the Hawks escaped with the two points.

Adin Hill's stat line may not have been as impressive as the previous night, but he showed great positioning in net and made several great saves. He stopped 38 of 42 total on the night. Meanwhile, Sarthou, who has not had the start to the season he expected, stopped 31 of 36.


Portland power play was 1/1 on the night, while their PK was a perfect 4/4.

Stats:
        

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	B/S	PIM
Iverson	0	2	2	2	-	-	6	1	2
Turgeon	1	1	2	4	17/36	47.2%	5	0	0
Schoenborn	1	1	2	4	-	-	3	0	0
Bittner	0	1	0	3	-	-	5	1	2
Abols	0	1	1	3	8/21	38.1%	1	1	0
Weinger	0	0	0	1	-	-	3	1	0
McKenzie	0	0	0	1	0/2	0%	6	0	0
Overhardt	0	0	0	3	7/17	41.8%	5	0	0
Veloso	1	0	1	5	-	-	4	0	0
Clayton	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	0	0
Hughes	0	1	1	0	1/4	25%	0	1	2
Glass	0	0	0	1	-	-	0	0	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	4	-	-	2	2	7
Dougherty	1	0	1	1	-	-	3	0	2
Jones	1	0	1	2	-	-	2	4	0
Texeira	0	1	0	2	-	-	4	1	0
MacEachern	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0	0
De Jong	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	1	0

Game Notes:
-Portland got two goals from their defensemen, which is a great sign. The Hawks have a lot of talented players on the blue line and they are gifted in different areas offensively, but for the most part they have struggled to put it together. Dougherty is now on the top power play unit and is likely getting a lot of practice unleashing that hard slap shot he has. Meanwhile, the second unit, got the lone power play goal and it looked like a practiced play as well. Ryan Hughes stick-handled into a spot where the Americans' penalty killer had to choose between covering him or Caleb Jens and he chose wrong. Jones uncorked a shot form the point with a screen. The power play had struggled to start the season, but with these weapons being perfected in practice, I would look for the struggle to be at an end.

Heinrich

-Blake Heirnich also pumped four shots on net and is starting to show enough comfort with his defensive partner: Jack Dougherty, that he will jump into the rush, pinch down or just join the cycle at will. This ability helped Portland win several key board battles on this night.
-Tri-City should continue to score goals as the season goes, something they struggled with last year. Part of that is due, in my opinion, to improved scoring depth. The third line of Maxwell James, Vladislav Lukin and Michael Rasmussen combined for two of their four goals on the night and had several other great looks. They also had a great cycle in Portland's zone that directly led to the goal that tied the game at three. If they start getting better goal0tending from Sarthou, they could be really dangerous this season.
-Brandon Carlo and Blake Heinrich got into a second period tilt and Carlo did not return to the game afterwards.
-Keegan Iverson, who during the last game against the Americans took too many penalties and just generally did not play well, was much better in this one. Interestingly enough, he had his stick tied up in Everett the previous night, when he had a chance to score in close and he had it again tied up behind the Tri City net tonight. This time, though he made a clever play by using his skate to kick the puck to Schoenborn for the goal. The chemistry on their line has gotten a lot better over the past week and this play resembles this.
-Caleb Jones was out there for two of the Tri-City goals and made a mistake at the opponent's blue line that led to a goal However, I still feel like he had a solid game. He blocked four shots and was consistently breaking up plays while the Americans were on the rush. The ore he gets comfortable in the WHL, the more I think he will start showcasing his high end skating and passing more.

Former Winterhawks in the NHL:
Saturday:
-Ryan Johnasen missed Columbus' game tonight against Colorado. Johnasen was producing point-wise in the early going but new coach John Tortorella wanted to make a statement, so Ryan found his minutes greatly reduced Thursday night. Now he is out with an illness (rumored to not be related to an ongoing heart issue he has). Brandon Dubinsky is getting plenty of playing time though as "Torts" is familiar with him from their time with the N.Y. Rangers. Dubinsky scored his third of the season as Columbus won their first game of the season 4-3 over Colorado.
-Jason Labarbera continues to be a yo-yo as he was called back up to the Philadelphia Flyers today and backed up Steve Mason in a 3-2 shoot-out win for Philly.
-Matt Dumba scored his first of the season as Minnesota shut out Anaheim 3-0.
-Ty Rattie made his debut this season with St. Louis and came oh so close to scoring his first NHL goal. He hit the post behind Thomas Greiss. The Blues could have used it as they lost to the Islanders 3-2 in the shoot-out.
Former Hawks in the AHL:
Saturday:
-Derrick Pouliot had another assist, this one in a 3-2 Wilkes/Barre Scranton win over Springfield in over-time.
-Taylor Aronson also had another assist as Milwaukee fell to Rockford 4-2.

Former Hawks in the ECHL:
Saturday:

Carruth

-Mac Carruth was under siege for the Indy Fuel, losing to Fort Wayne 6-5 despite making 47 saves.
-Miles Koules had a goal and an assist and his Quad City Mallards took down Tulsa 5-3. He now has four points in his first five games.
-Troy Rutkowski had another assist, but Evansville lost to Toledo 2-1.
-Tristan King assisted on a goal for Allen as they took down Utah 6-5.
 -Taylor Peters scored his second of the year for Idaho, tying the game with Alaska at four late, but the Aces scored just over a minute later to win 5-4. Garrett Haar had two assists for the Aces in the win.

WHL News and Notes:

-One of the WHL's great names was sent down as Trygve Many Guns was re-assigned to the AJHL, after 17-year-old Sean Richards changed his mind and decided to sign with the Regina Pats.
-KPLU finally caught up with the news story from a couple months ago, writing a piece about why for-profit hockey does not have to pay players minimum wage. Interestingly enough, several fans who went to a game at Xfinity arena, replied that the Silvertips were a "pro team."

Notable WHL Scores:

-Red Deer got two goals from former Silvertip Ivan Nikolishin and won without Haydn Fleury, over Kootenay 4-3.

Nikolishin

-Swift Current cooled down Brayden Point and Dryden Hunt, shutting them out 3-0 behind 25 saves from Landon Bow. Glenn Gawdin had two goals and an assist in the win.
-The Cane train kept rolling, winning 4-3. Former Vancouver Giant Arvin Atwal scored the winner on the power play with just over 12 minutes left in the game.
-Another tight win for Saskatoon, as they beat Medicine Hat 5-4. Cameron Hebig stayed hot with two assists. Josh Uhrich scored the eventual winner with 2:48 left in the game.
-Brendan Burke was injured again after stopping 11 of the first 12 shots he faced and Kelowna shutout Calgary 3-0. Jackson Whistle stood tall, stopping all 26 shots he faced. The Rockets have won three in a  row.
-A night after Spokane beat Victoria to stop their losing streak, the Royals returned the favor, beating the Chiefs 3-0. 17-year-old goalie Griffen Outhouse stopped all 24 shots he faced.
-Four goals in total were scored at Xfinity arena this last weekend in two games. Saturday night, Carter Hart stopped all 32 Seattle shots he faced and Connor Dewar had a goal and an assist as Everett blanked Seattle 2-0.

Portland 5 Brandon 0

-Portland finished off their three games in three nights, taking on a team in Brandon that had only lost in regulation one time and is considered the odds on favorite to represent the WHL in this year's Memorial Cup. If one of the teams were to fall flat Sunday, it was though to likely to be the tired Hawks. Instead Portland got stellar goaltending from Adin Hill, who stopped all 45 shots he faced on his way to being named WHL goalie of the week. Hill now had three shut outs on the season (most in the WHL); his GAA is 2.13 (6th in the WHL) and his Save % is 0.937 (4th in the WHL).

Despite giving up 17 shots in the first period, Portland opened the scoring with their second straight power play goal, going back to the previous game. Dominic Turgeon took advantage of a turnover by d-man Macoy Erkamps., who was trying to clear the zone and walked in alone, beating Jordan Papirny. Turgeon now has a five-game goal scoring streak, which is by far the longest streak of his WHL career. Brandon pressed hard on their second power play of the period, cranking eight shots in on Hill, but not solving him.

Then in second period, Adin Hill made a solid pad save on Nolan Patrick, Turgeon picked up the puck and started a rush the other way. He then found Alex Schoenborn, who did not get all he had on his shot, but still beat Papirny for a 2-0 lead. Brandon's best look in the second was when Jack Dougherty broke his stick and received a stick first from Turgeon, which was a left handed one. Brandon had control in and around Adin Hill, but Portland's skaters sold out blocking multiple shots and helping out their goalie.

Weinger

In the third period, Brandon pressed, but Portland took further control of the game off another rush started from a great play in their own zone. This time, it was Evan Weinger blocking a shot and starting a three-on-one rush with Rodrigo Abols and Paul Bittner. Abols chose to shoot instead of pass to either of his wingers and it was the right choice as he beat Papirny glove side for a 3-0 lead. The Wheat Kings' John Quenneville then took a poor penalty, boarding Blake Heinrich and giving Portland it's second power play of the game. The Hawks red hot power play kept rolling, making Quenneville and the Wheaties pay, when they failed to clear when given the chance. Paul Bittner backchecked the puck away from Brandon and fed Turgeon between the faceoff circles. Turgeon beat Papirny glove side and the Hawks were now up by a stunning 4-0 amount. They were not done, however, as Colton Veloso kept up his strong start to the season, fore-checking in the Wheat Kings' zone and bodying Philadelphia Flyers' drafted d-man Ivan Provorov enough for him  to throw a pizza right up the middle. Skyler McKenzie picked up the turnover and he made no mistake beating and chasing Papirny. Veloso did not get an assist on the play, which is a crime as he made it happen. Veloso still does not have an assist on the season, but has three goals so far. The Wheat Kings had a few more great chances, the best being from Rihards Bukarts, who had a great look in tight but was robbed by Hill. The 45 saves is the most Hill has made in a shutout in his WHL career.

Portland's power play was two for two on the night and has been successful on their last three in a row. While not all three goals were scored by the top unit, I feel like moving Abols to the point on the top unit was a big difference. The movement around the attacking zone has been much crisper since this adjustment. Portland's power play is now 9/45 for 20% (tied for 12th in the league). Portland's penalty kill stopped all six Brandon power plays and is now 45/54 for 83.3% (5th in the WHL). The Hawks streak of consecutive penalty kills is now at 13.
Stats:
        

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	B/S	PIM
Iverson	0	0	0	3	0/1	0%	3	0	2
Turgeon	2	1	3	2	15/28	53.6%	2	3	0
Schoenborn	1	0	1	1	-	-	4	3	2
Bittner	0	2	2	6	-	-	2	1	2
Abols	1	1	2	5	12/15	80%	2	1	5
Weinger	0	1	1	3	-	-	3	1	0
McKenzie	1	0	1	1	-	-	5	1	2
Overhardt	0	0	0	1	7/10	70%	1	1	0
Veloso	0	0	0	1	-	-	4	2	0
Clayton	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	0	0
Hughes	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	0	0
Glass	0	0	0	0	1/3	33.3%	0	0	0
Heinrich	0	1	1	1	-	-	4	1	2
Dougherty	0	0	0	0	-	-	4	0	0
Jones	0	0	0	2	-	-	6	3	0
Texeira	0	0	0	0	-	-	8	3	2
MacEachern	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	2	0
De Jong	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	0	0

Gmae Notes:
-Nolan Patrick may want to file charges against Adin Hill. The 19-year-old goalie pulled highway robbery on him on multiple occasions. The one that stood out the most was a play where Patrick rushed into the zone and had a clear lane at the net off a pass. Hill showed confidence by coming out of his net, cutting down the angles and making a shoulder save on Patrick.
-Portland was missing someone with scoring touch earlier in the season, but Turgeon is feeling it now. His second goal was a goal scorers goal as he got himself into a shooting lane, waited for the pass and just wired it over Papirny. Dominic showcased this ability at times last postseason, but is really tuning it on now, with six goals in his last five games.
-Evan Weinger has five points in nine games this season, after having off-season shoulder surgery and missing all of the preseason. His contributions have come in other areas on the night as well though., as he had a key shot block in each of the last three games. This is probably the biggest area of improvement so far this year. His improved defense has allowed Coach Jamie Kompon to rotate the top two lines while holding a lead late and expecting them to make big plays in their own zone. One of the areas a lot of forwards, including Weinger struggled with last season was covering the point and his key blocks are evidence that this is no longer the case, for him at least.


McKenzie

-It was great to see Skyler McKenzie score a goal as he has had countless chances since his last goal September 26th in Victoria. McKenzie had to know a breakout season was expected of him this season and I believe he was gripping the stick a little too hard after not converting on so many great looks. Even if the goal was the fifth goal in a 5-0 loss, it could be a big one, if it breaks him out of his scoring funk.
-Blake Heinrich and Caleb Jones both showed confidence in rushing the puck, joining the rush and pinching at the right time. Heinrich is paired with Jack Dougherty and can rely upon the Nashville Predators' signed defenseman to have his back, if he takes a risk. When you have confidence in your defensive partner, it allows you to make more plays in the other team's zone. This appears to be the case now for Heinrich.
-Portland, as a team had a season high in shot blocks (23) and this is the recipe for success when you are being out-possessed like Portland was Sunday. When a shot block leads to a goal the other way, it is an argument to the rest of the team to continue selling out on point shots. I would look for this to be a continuing trend for this year's team.


Leier

-Portland goes next at the VMC against Tri City on Wednesday. It will be the third game in 11 days between the two teams.

Former Hawks in the AHL:
Sunday:
-Taylor Leier scored a short handed goal, but Lehigh Valley fell to the Toronto Marlies 4-1.

Former Hawks in the ECHL:
Sunday: 
-Thomas Frazee kept his hot start going as he had a goal and two assists in a 5-3 Atlanta win over South Carolina.  He now has seven points in his first five games this year.

Notable WHL Scores:

-Prince Albert rode 38 saves from Ian Scott and won in over-time on a goal from Jesse Lees. 

- It was "Joe Carter Day" in Vancouver and Prince George spoiled it behind a goal and an assist from Jesse Gabrielle. He now has five goals and two assists for seven points in his last four games.