Winterhawks Come Back Twice In a Row; Beat Broncos and Giants

photo by soobumim photography

Portland 5 vs. Swift Current 4

The Portland Winterhawks played host to the Swift Current Broncos on Friday night for the first time in two seasons. The last time the Broncos invaded the Rose City in the 2013/14 season, they fell 5-4 to the Winterhawks. Last season, Portland travelled to Swift Current and got two late goals from Paul Bittner to tie the score, before falling-you guessed it-by a 5-4 score. So, there should never really been any doubt when Portland fell behind 3-0 that they would at least score four goals.

 

Swift Current did not badly outplay Portland, but still staked themselves to a 3-0 advantage in the first period on Friday night. They scored first when Keegan Iverson, who was covering for a pinching Jack Dougherty lost an edge and stumbled leading to a two-on-one for Tyler Steenbergen and Jon Martin. Steenbergen was able to get the puck to Martin and he filed it past Adin Hill for his 20th goal of the season. He would soon add his 21st when he intercepted Keoni Texeira's bad outlet pass at the Portland blue line and drilled a shot into the top corner on Hill. The Broncos would get another early goal as Rodeigo Abols lost a defensive faceoff to Glenn Gawdin and, former Kamloops Blazer, Jordan Thomson beat Hill on a wrist shot from the point. At this point, Portland was creating chances on Swift Current goalie Landon Bow, but they just were not having the same luck the Broncos were. That would start to change with just over a minute left in the first when a Caleb Jones led rush got the puck into a scoring area for Keegan Iverson. The N.Y. Rangers' prospect made up for his earlier mistake, beating Bow and cutting the Broncos' lead to two as the first period ended.

photo by Darwin Knelsen

 

The Winterhawks kept the pressure on in the second as a fantastic shift from the unit of Skyler McKenzie, Ryan Hughes and Colton Veloso led to a Jack Dougherty point shot that McKenzie artfully tipped past Bow for his third goal of the year. McKenzie made a brilliant pass earlier in the same shift that Hughes hit the post on. Portland later tied the score after Iverson took a retaliatory penalty and put the Hawks short-handed. While on the PK, Blake Heinrich blocked a shot and Alex Overhardt made a slick play to flip the puck out of his zone to Dominic Turgeon. Turgeon then led a two-on-one short-handed rush and found Overhardt for the goal. This was Overhardt's second straight game with a goal after starting the season without a goal over his first 16 games. Overhardt was only penalty killing because Iverson (who is usually among the top four PKers was in the box). The Hawks have a second unit of Paul Bittner and Keegan Iverson, with Bittner usually taking the faceoffs. With how well Overhardt did in this sequence, I do not know why they would not take the opportunity to place a natural center on that second unit and not basically concede every faceoff.

 

Portland then took the lead after Dominic Turgeon and Swift Current's Scott Feser took consecutive penalties setting up four-on-four play. Rodrigo Abols and Rihards Bukarts were the first unit coach Jamie Kompon sent out and they paid immediate dividends. Caleb Jones, from the left point fired a hard pass along the ice that was meant to be a pass for Bukarts, who was at the bottom of the faceoff circle. Bukarts expertly deflected the pass past Bow and Portland had their first lead of the game at 4-3. Portland added another for five straight goals when Abols found an off-balance Keegan Iverson in a shooting lane. Iverson fired a quick shot past Bow, ending his night and staking his team to a 5-3 lead. Bow's night ended after making 22 saves on 27 shots.

 

Swift Current would press back in the third period and get a goal to cut the lead in half. The goal they scored was very similar to Portland's third of the game as a blocked shot sent Tyler Steenbergen and Jon Martin on another two-on-one. Steenbergen chose to shoot this time and beat Hill for his second of the year. The Broncos would not get that many more looks to tie the game and Portland would walk away with the 5-4 win.

 

Adin Hill got another win, stopping 26 of 30 shots he faced. Meanwhile, Bow's replacement Travis Child was stellar, stopping all 18 shots he faced.

 

Portland's power play was 1/6 on the night while their PK was 3/3.

Stats:

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	Faceoffs	F.O. %	Hits	Blocked Shots	PIMs
Iverson	2	0	2	7	-	-	7	1	2
Turgeon	0	1	0	3	12/23	52.2%	0	3	2
Schoenborn	0	0	0	1	-	-	5	0	0
Bukarts	1	0	1	5	1/1	100%	2	0	0
Abols	0	2	2	3	7/14	50%	2	1	0
Bittner	0	0	0	2	3/6	50%	3	1	0
Overhardt	1	0	1	2	1/1	100%	2	1	0
Glass	0	1	1	2	6/7	85.7%	0	0	0
Weinger	0	0	0	3	-	-	5	0	2
McKenzie	1	0	1	1	-	-	5	0	0
Hughes	0	1	1	2	4/8	50%	3	0	0
Veloso	0	0	0	2	-	-	3	1	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	2	-	-	5	3	5
Dougherty	0	1	1	2	-	-	7	2	0
Jones	0	3	3	2	-	-	2	2	2
Texeira	0	0	0	5	-	-	2	2	0
Czaikowski	0	0	0	0	-	-	0	1	0
De Jong	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	0	0

Notes:

-Moving Overhardt onto the wing appears to be a brilliant move. I get that entrusting 16-year-old centers Ryan Hughes and Cody Glass as your number three and four guys in the middle seems risky, but you cannot argue with the results moving Overhardt to the wing brought. In the long run too, making Hughes and Glass grow into these roles seems beneficial. Last season Portland really struggled in the early going as centers Skyler McKenzie (at the time) and Alex Overhardt struggled with defensive reposibilities, as well as, creating for their wingers. Hughes and Glass seem like they are already better then those two were last year, in these two roles and any growth you can stimulate by putting them in this role consistently will help you next year and the year after. Kompon would end up going back to the "pinball line" the next game as Hughes was healthy scratched, but I think he has this in his back pocket, if the bottom six forwards are not producing.

-Keoni Texeira seems to really be trying to get the puck towards the net. He owns one of the best shots on the team and has underrated creative abilities. His offensive play has improved drastically as the season has gone on.

-Something I mentioned whle on the Seattle Sin Bin podcast last week was how Portland seems to be stuck between a more defensive, shot-blocking style for their d-men and the more puck rushing, risk taking style we are used to. Recently, they seem to be letting their d-men push the play and it has gotten both positive and negative results. The higher risk outlet passes from your d-men are up the middle but they can lead to rushes into the opponent's zone. It's sort of a high risk-high reward situation. When you have a talented top four like Portland does, it's more likely it will be a reward, especially as Jack Dougherty and Caleb Jones get more comfortable with this style.

-Keoni Texeira is arguably the most pivotal d-man to this style of play succeeding as he has struggled at times with turning the puck over in bad spots. If he continues to get better at outlet passes and decrease these turnovers, Portland will have one of the best puck-rushing group of top four d-men in the league.

-Keegan Iverson had his first two goal game of the season and is starting to turn around his year. He has an NHL caliber shot and could be a guy that has a breakout season for Portland. The more he develops into a scoring power forward, the more likely it is the Rangers decide to sign him to a contract. The fact that he was able to score while leaning on his back foot is impressive.

-Bukarts had another goal as the power play now seems to be running through him now.

 

photo by Getty Images

Portland 5 @Vancouver 3

Portland travelled up to Vancouver to play their first game of the year against the Giants. Vancouver had dropped nine straight before coming back against Kamloops and winning in over-time Friday night. The Giants was hoping that the late game heroics on Friday would carry over into Saturday and help them get off to a great start. They were right.

 

The Giants had 17 shots on goal and two different five-on-three power plays before Portland had even registered a shot on goal. They also had a 2-0 lead.

 

Vancouver scored their first goal on one such five-on-three as Brennen Menell used a Tyler Benson screen to beat Adin Hill for his first of the season. Menell left the team the previous week, even though he was getting approximately 20 minutes a night in playing time and is the Giants' power play quarter-back. He was apparently, talked into returning to play in the WHL by former Brandon Wheat King star Scott Glennie. The Giants' second goal was on another power play as a Matt Barberis shot got past a heavily screened Adin Hill. Former Calgary Hitmen forward Elliott Peterson provided the screen. Hill, who is usually calm after letting up a goal, seemed frustrated with his d-men for allowing Peterson to park himself, un-disturbed in his line of sight.

 

Just like the multi-goal deficit the previous night, Portland would overcome this one too. First, Alex Overhardt scored his third of the year on a two-on-one rush. He looked off the goalie and rifled it past Vancouver goalie Daniel Wapple. Overhardt now has a goal in three straight games. Then, right after Rodrigo Abols hit a post, Keoni Texeira got a shot towards the net that the six-foot-five Abols tipped past Wapple to tie the game. After being totally dominated for the first half of the period and not being allowed a single shot, Portland had stormed back and scored twice, firing a total of 14 shots on Wapple over a nine minute period.

 

The Winterhawks carried their momentum into the second period as Portland created a three-on-two rush and Keegan Iverson utilized a Blake Heinrich screen to beat Wapple and give Portland their first lead. Iverson now has a goal in three straight games for Portland. The Hawks kept pushing in the second and added to their lead when Brett Clayton made a great play in his own zone off a faceoff loss and rushed the length of the ice himself. He showcased some unexpected speed by putting the Giants' d-men back on their heels, before beating Wapple through his left arm. The goal was Clayton's first in his WHL career and while Wapple will want it back, the play to set it up was a brilliant one by the 17-year-old. Vancouver would get a goal back in the second as a wrist shot from the point bounced off a body in front and right to Ty Ronning. Ronning made no mistake as he scored his third goal in the last two games, cutting the Portland lead to 4-3 as the second period ended.

 

Portland played a great defensive third period, limiting the Giants' chances and only allowing eight shots on net. The Hawks would get the only goal of the period and it would be scored right as a power play was expiring. Cody Glass, who was taking a scratched Ryan Hughes' place on the second power play unit, hit the post and Alex Schoenborn pounced on the rebound, giving Portland the two-goal lead that they would win by.

 

Adin Hill was solid, stopping 35 of 38 for Portland. Vancouver's Daniel Wapple was pulled after Clayton's goal and stopped 13/17 overall. Ryan Kubic came into the game in relief and was considerably better, halting 25 of 26 Portland shots.

 

Portland came within seconds of scoring a power play goal but ended up going 0/5 on the night. Their power play took a hit and is now 15/79 for 19.0% (14th in the WHL). Meanwhile, Portland's PK was 2/4 and also takes a hit in the rankings. They are now 73/90 for 81.1% (8th in the WHL).

 



Stats:

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	Faceoffs	F.O. %	Hits	Blocked Shots	PIMs
Iverson	1	0	1	3	-	-	4	1	2
Turgeon	0	0	0	1	21/32	65.6%	3	1	0
Schoenborn	1	0	1	3	-	-	5	0	0
Bukarts	0	0	0	3	-	-	3	1	0
Abols	1	0	1	2	11/18	61.1%	2	0	0
Bittner	0	0	0	7	0/2	0%	4	2	0
McKenzie	0	1	1	5	1/1	100%	2	0	0
Overhardt	1	0	1	2	5/10	50%	2	0	0
Veloso	0	1	1	1	-	-	3	0	6
Clayton	1	0	1	3	-	-	2	0	0
Glass	0	1	1	0	4/8	50%	0	0	0
Weinger	0	0	0	0	-	-	1	0	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	0	-	-	4	4	0
Dougherty	0	0	0	1	-	-	7	1	2
Jones	0	0	0	2	-	-	2	1	0
Texeira	0	2	2	7	-	-	5	1	0
MacEachern	0	0	0	1	-	-	2	1	0
De Jong	0	0	0	1	-	-	1	1	0

Notes:
-Kompon put the "pinball line" back together and they played extremely well. I still stand by what I said about putting Glass at center though their energetic play certainly is a boon for the team.
-Keoni Texeira had two assists and tied the team game-high with seven shots on net.
-Paul Bittner also had seven shots on net and is so close to ending his goal-less streak. He now has not scored in his last six games with Portland. He has been one of Portland's all around best players this year, but just has not found it easy to score. I would expect his line with Rodrigo Abols and Rihards Bukarts to start creating more prime scoring looks for him.
-Colton Veloso had a game he would like to forget, despite the one assist. He took three minor penalties in the game. Two of the penalties were the result of him just getting out-worked along with the opponent selling Veloso's illegal stick work. He has to get smarter about where he has his stick and realize that veteran players will pull his stick into their body if he lets them and it will get him called for hooking.
-Dominic Turgeon continued his recent dominance at the faceoff dot, as he won over 65% of his draws again.
-Blake Heinrich got hit in the numbers, face first into the boards by Elliott Peterson. This is the third time this season that Heinrich has been on the receiving end of a nasty check like this. While this is a play hockey is trying to take out and we've seen people suspended for, I put some of the blame on Heinrich for exposing himself in such a vulnerable way. One time is a fluke but three times is a trend. He needs to start preparing himself  a little better when he knows a check is coming or he's going to be seriously injured.
-Portland next plays this coming Friday vs. Tri-City. The Hawks are 3-1 this year so far against the Americans.
-Portland will look to improve on their three-game winning streak.

Notable WHL Scores:

Friday:

-Calgary released former Winterhawk Brendan Burke, in a bit of a surprising move. They responded by completely shutting down Kootenay en route to a 6-0 shut out win. The Ice were only allowed 12 shots on Cody Porter in the loss.

-Ryan Graham played the hero twice for Saskatoon as he scored a goal with only 25 seconds left. Then he netted the OT winner in a 4-3 Blades' win over Prince Albert. The winner was scored when we made a great move after receiving the puck all alone on the right side of the goalie and swiftly cutting to the other side for the easy back-hand goal.

-The potent Moose Jaw Warriors showed how quick-strike they can be as they scored four un-answered goals after falling behind 2-0 to Lethbridge. Brayden Point had three more points in the win.

-Regina beat Red Deer 8-5 in a game straight out of the 1980's. Seven different Pats scored goals in the game. Interestingly enough, the Rebels trailed 6-2 entering the third period and stormed back to make it a one goal game before falling. More arguments can now be made that the Memorial Cup hosts need to upgrade their goalie situation. But who is available in this crazy goalie market?

-Parker Wotherspoon's goal in the third period would stand as the game winner for Tri-City as they went into Medicine Hat and won 4-3.

-Seattle stormed back after falling behind 2-0 with four straight goals and beat Victoria 4-2. Keegan Kolesar, Ryan Gropp, Nolan Volcan and Ethan Bear scored the goals for Seattle.

-Chase Witala had thee points for Prince George as they roared back from a 2-0 deficit to beat Edmonton 4-2. Jansen Harkins had his second goal of the year in the win. Nick McBride saw his first action for P.G. this year after Ty Edmonds hurt himself trying to make a splits save on Luke Bertolucci.

-Patrick Bajkov had two points for Everett and they beat Spokane 5-2.

-Vancouver ended their losing streak in memorable fashion with recently healthy Trevor Cox playing a big role. Ty Ronning had two late goals to tie the score at three before Cox provided the OT heroics for a 4-3 win.

Saturday:

-A nice defensive response for Red Deer as they shut down the Brayden Point led Moose Jaw Warriors 4-1. Former Spokane Chief Colton Bobyk had two points for the Rebels.

-Brandon dominated five-on-five play and added a pivotal short handed marker from Reid Duke to beat Lethbridge 4-1.

-Former Vancouver Giant Jackson Houck had four assists for Calgary as they came back from a a 3-2 deficit to beat the visiting Tri-City Americans 4-3. Jakob Stukel had a hat-trick in the win.

-The Kootenay Ice continue to slide, losing this time to Medicine Hat 6-3. They have now dropped three straight, all to Cntral Division rivals. Mack Shields won in his debut for the Tigers. Chad Butcher had the prettiest goal of the night for the Tigers, going end-to-end on a rush.

-Carter Hart has now tied Adin Hill for most shut outs this year in the WHL with three, as he blanked Swift Current 4-0. Remi Laurencelle had two goals in the Tips' win.

-Spokane was down 3-1 to Kelowna at home at one point in the third period and then stormed back to win 4-3 in overtime. Jason Fram had the winner in the extra session.

-Seattle won their second straight game in Victoria, which is a difficult feat. Mathew Barzal and Keegan Kolesar had two point nights again in the win. Victoria actually held a lead in both games.
Sunday:

-Brandon was given their sixth loss over their last 10 games, at home vs. Prince Albert 3-2. Reid Gardiner (who else) provided the game-winning goal for the Raiders.



-Regina went two-for-two on the weekend, beating Lethbridge by a 5-3 score. The Hurricanes, in contrast, got zero out of a possible six points over the weekend.
-Kamloops blew the doors off of Prince George 9-1. Former Kelowna Rocket and Prince Albert Raider, Gage Quinney had a hat-trick in the win. Quinney has  17 points in 11 games since being acquired.

Winterhawks in the NHL:

Saturday:

-Jannik Hansen kept his hot streak by notching his fifth goal of the season in a 4-2 Canucks' loss to Toronto. 

-Cody McLeod got his second assist of the season in a 6-1 Colorado win over Montreal. McLeod has five points already this year.

-Taylor Leier was called up by Philadelphia from Lehigh Valley and made his NHL debut against the Carolina Hurricanes. Leier had 7:27 of ice time and had one shot, one hit and one takeaway in a 3-2 Flyers' OT win.

-Ryan Johansen broke a 13 game goal-less streak with a marker in a 5-2 CBJ win over Arizona. He also had an assist in the victory. Brandon Dubinsky was held out of the lineup and could be out two-to-three weeks with an elbow injury.

-Seth Jones scored his first goal of the year and added an assist in a 7-0 Nashbille blowout of Winnipeg. This is the second time in a week that the Predators have put up a touchdown.

-Marian Hossa notched his first assist since returning from his injury and Chicago beat St. Louis 4-2.

-Nino Niederreiter scored a controversial goal for Minnesota in a 3-2 OT loss to Dallas. The goal was reviewed to see if there was goaltender interference and after a long debate, it stood for his sixth fo the year.

Sunday:

-Hossa scored his second of the year and 488th of his career as Chicago beat Calgary 4-1. Hossa is just 12 goals from the elusive 500 NHL goals. He would be the 43rd NHLer ever to do this.

 

Winterhawks in the AHL:

Friday:

-Taylor Leier sent himself to the NHL on a good note with a goal in a L.V. 7-1 win over Rochester.

-Derrick Pouliot had an assist in a 7-0 Wilkes Barre/Scranton win over Hershey.

-Ty Rattie got another goal in the AHL as Chicago lost to Manitoba 3-2. Chase De Leo had an assist for the Moose in their win.

Saturday:

-Craig Cunningham took a cue from Taylor Leier and had two points in his last game in the AHL for Springfield, before being called up by Arizona. Springfield won the game 4-3 over Binghamton. Cunningham should be making his NHL season debut tonight in Brooklyn vs. the N.Y. Islanders.

-Tyler Wotherspoon had his second assist of the year as Stockton beat Texas 5-3.

Sunday:



-Derrick Pouliot had his his third goal of the season as WB/S won their third straight over the weekend, 7-6 over Hartford in OT.

Winterhawks in the ECHL:

Friday:

-Taylor Peters had a goal and an assist in a 4-3 Idaho Steelheads' loss to Florida.

Saturday:

-Kevin Young had one assist and Cam Reid had two as Reading beat Norfolk 3-2.

-Gasper Kopitar had two assists as Manchester lost to Toledo 6-2.

-Mac Caruth stopped 27 of 29 shots as the Indy Fuel beat the Alaska Aces 3-2 in the shoot out. Carruth stopped all four shooters in the circus.

Sunday:

-Thomas Frazee had an assist in a 4-1 Atlanta win over Greenville.

-Gasper Kopitar had his second straight two assist game and Manchester won 4-3 over Toledo.

-Troy Rutkowski had an assist for Evansville as they lost to Wheeling 4-2.

-The Reading Royals beat Norfolk 4-2 and Cam Reid had another assist in the win. This year he has three goals and eight assists for 11 points in his first 10 games.

-Tristan King had another goal as Allen beat Colorado 4-3. He has eight points in the ECHL this year.

 

Dan Folwick on Pucklandia:
-Dan shared the story of the infamous Chris Murray charging of Mike Williamson in the penalty box back in the 1993/94 season. I believe this was the same game that Kamloops and Portland had a bench clearing brawl that had coaches Brent Peterson and Don Hay verbally going at each other as well. It was easily one of the craziest games I've ever been to. It's great to hear the story from the perspective of a guy trying to stop Murray from reaching Williamson.