Portland Takes Revenge in Seattle 5-2, Then Hold on vs. Tri-City 4-3

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Portland 5 @Seattle 2:

The following night in Seattle, Portland seemed well on their way to yet another loss to Seattle, pushing them further back in the U.S. Division standings, as Spokane was winning in Kootenay. It did not help that Seattle was holding onto a 2-0 lead and controlling play. Instead, Portland rode possibly the best game of Alex Schoenborn's WHL career and scored five consecutive goals to win 5-2.

Seattle scored their "teddy bear toss" goal on a tip from Scott Eansor with under a minute to play in the first period. Eansor got his stick on a Jerret Smith shot from the point, as Portland defenseman Caleb Jones was all over his back. The officials decided to stop play and just add on the final seconds to the second period.

To start the second period, Adin Hill made an incredible play on Mathew Barzal, but still had his team fall behind by two goals as Seattle capitalized on a power play. The goal they scored happened because of great puck movement by the T-birds, setting up Keegan Kolesar alone in the slot, as Colton Veloso got lost in the mix. Kolesar scored his second  goal in two games vs. Portland and Seattle was seemingly on their way to a similar win as the previous night. Instead of giving in, Portland got that goal right back as Alex Schoenborn made a deflection of his own on a Keoni Texeira shot, cutting the Seattle lead to one. Still in the second period, Portland got another goal as a Jack Dougherty shot was saved by Bow but ended up right on the stick of Rodrigo Abols. The 19-year-old Latvian swiftly tied the game and sent the game into the third period, tied at two.

The Winterhawks took the lead in the third period on the power play on a highlight reel goal from Schoenborn. A point shot got through on Landon Bow, but the rebound seemed to be going out of the reach of Schoenborn, who was providing a screen in front. He quickly went lateral, diving after the puck and poking it past an out of position Bow for the eventual game-winner. Portland got a little more insurance, again on the power play, as Schoenborn backhanded a rebound of a Caleb Jones point shot to make the score 4-2 and giving him his first career hat trick. Dominic Turgeon added an empty net goal, giving Portland the 5-2 win.



Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	BKS	PIM
Abols	1	0	1	3	-	-	4	1	0
Turgeon	1	1	2	5	11/26	42.3%	3	1	0
Iverson	0	0	0	4	0/1	0%	1	0	10
Bukarts	0	1	1	3	-	-	6	0	0
Glass	0	0	0	1	6/14	42.9%	1	0	0
Schoenborn	3	0	3	5	-	-	6	0	0
McKenzie	0	0	0	3	-	-	4	0	2
Overhardt	0	0	0	1	9/15	60%	2	1	0
Weinger	0	0	0	0	1/1	100%	2	0	0
Clayton	0	0	0	0	-	-	5	0	0
Hughes	0	0	0	1	4/9	44.4%	1	0	0
Veloso	0	0	0	1	-	-	1	0	0
Heinrich	0	0	0	1	-	-	5	2	0
Dougherty	0	3	3	5	-	-	3	0	2
Jones	0	2	2	1	-	-	5	2	4
Texeira	0	1	1	2	-	-	2	1	0
MacEachern	0	0	0	1	-	-	2	1	0
De Jong	0	0	0	0	-	-	2	2	0

Notes:
-Caleb Jones has now firmly supplanted Rodrigo Abols on the left point, on the first unit power play. Abols has now been left completely off the ice on man advantages, as the second unit has developed their own chemistry. Ultimately, I think Portland's coaching will spend some time getting Abols comfortable with the second unit.
-Another power play note as Alex Schoenborn and Keegan Iverson have consistently traded out playing as the net-front presence on the first unit. With Schoenborn scoring two goals, I think he will be given more opportunities than Iverson now.
-Adin Hill definitely does not like the other team making contact with him. After a Seattle forward collided with him in the crease, he went out of his way to throw a little check behind the net on the same forward. I like a lot of attitude in my goalie and Hill, somewhat quietly has that in spades.
-Is it just me, or is Alex Overhardt's skating improving. His speed set up the power play, that ultimately won the game for Portland.

Portland 4 vs. Tri-City 3:

 To close out the weekend, Portland took on a Tri-City team that was desperate to crawl back into the playoff race and was very game on Sunday night. The Winterhawks never trailed though, as they were able to respond to every Tri-City goal with one of their own.

Portland opened the scoring in one of my favorite ways. On one end, Adin hill made two huge pad saves, springing Skyler McKenzie on a break the other way. McKenzie then made a nifty cross-ice pass to Caleb Jones, who beat Evan Sarthou, giving Portland the 1-0 lead. Tri-City responded late in the first period on the power play on a strange bounce. A Parker Bowles shot from the slot, was poked off of his stick and right onto that of Beau McCue. McCue swiftly beat an out of position Hill, tying the game.

The Winterhawks came out in the second period and took  the lead back on a power play goal of their own. Blake Heinrich, was able to walk in on Sarthou and utilize a nice screen from Keegan Iverson, beating Sarthou for the 2-1 lead. In what is becoming more of a trend lately, Portland later gave up a short-handed goal. Jack Dougherty made a terrible decision and turned the puck over to Jordan topping, who broke the other way and beat Adin Hill with a slick backhand shot, once gain, tying the game.

Not to be outdone by Tri-City, Portland scored a short-handed marker of their own in the third period. Dominic Turgeon was once again the SH sniper as he pounced on a Keegan Iverson blocked shot on one end and beat Sarthou on the other for the 3-2 lead. On the very same Tri-City power play, the Americans tied the game for the third time. It was yet another bad bounce that led to the American's' power play goal. Turgeon blocked the initial point shot, but had the puck go right to Jordan Topping, who scored his second of the game.

Instead of having this game slip away, Portland pulled it out on another big goal from their red-headed North Dakotan. Cody Glass won a pivotal offensive face off, Alex Schoenborn took the puck, walking in on Sarthou and beating him cleanly with a  Glass screen. For the second night in a row, Portland got the game-winner form Schoenborn.

Game Stats:

Player	Goals	Assists	Points	Shots	F/O	F/O %	Hits	BKS	PIM
Abols	0	1	1	3	-	-	1	3	0
Turgeon	1	0	1	2	10/28	35.7%	1	1	0
Iverson	0	0	0	3	-	-	4	1	2
Bukarts	0	0	0	3	-	-	0	0	0
Glass	0	1	1	2	11/19	57.9%	3	0	0
Schoenborn	1	0	1	6	-	-	5	1	0
McKenzie	0	1	1	1	1/2	50%	5	2	0
Overhardt	0	0	0	4	6/11	54.5%	7	0	2
Weinger	0	0	0	0	-	-	3	1	0
Nagel	0	0	0	0	-	-	4	0	5
Hughes	0	1	1	1	2/4	50%	0	0	0
Veloso	0	1	1	1	-	-	0	0	0
Heinrich	1	1	2	2	-	-	6	1	10
Dougherty	0	1	1	2	-	-	8	3	0
Jones	1	0	1	1	-	-	5	0	2
Texeira	0	1	1	0	-	-	7	1	0
Czaikowski	0	0	0	1	-	-	0	0	0
De Jong	0	0	0	1	-	-	2	1	2

Notes:

-The biggest note out of this game was the mix up of defensive pairings. For the entire season, coach Jamie Kompon has been pairing Blake Heinrich with Jack Dougherty and Caleb Jones with Keoni Texeira. Suddenly he has switched the pairings to b Kenoi Texeira with Jack Dougherty and Caleb Jones with Blake Heinrich. Texeira's improved play, as well as, Kompon's trust in him as a guy that's played two and a half plus seasons in the WHL now, allows him to switch the pairs up. I will have to see more out of these pairings before I am completely sold, as Heinrich and Dougherty are a solid defense first unit. However, Texeira and Jones both seem to get lost at times, so splitting them up, might help the team in the long run.
-Rodrigo Abols did not get down after being removed from the power play. He had a very nice set up of Alex Overhardt directly after a Portland power play and could find himself in a nice role as the left wing on the "bump up" shift after a PP.
-Abols and Jones both had goals taken away in the game. Abols was ruled to have been scored because Keegan Iverson impeded with Sarthou, while Jones' was ruled to have been actually outside of the net. I would tend to agree with the Jones no-goal, way more than Abols'. Goaltender interference is a rule that really needs to be sorted out in the WHL, in my opinion.

 Winterhawks in the NHL:

Saturday, 1/23:
-Jannik Hansen had his first career hat trick, but his Vancouver Canucks were undone by a hat trick from Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin in a 5-4 loss. Hansen is one goal away from his career high in a season (16). Luca Sbisa had an assist in the loss and Derrick Pouliot played in his first game this year for the Penguins. Pouliot skated 11:58 of ice time, pumping one shot on net, throwing one hit and blocking two shots.
-Nino Niederreiter had an assist for Minnesota in their 4-3 loss to San Jose.
Sunday, 1/24:
-Marian Hossa had an assist for Chicago in their 2-0 win over St. Louis. Ty Rattie was sent back to the AHL, after the loss. In his six-game stint in the NHL, he had three goals.
Monday, 1/25:
-Brandon Dubinsky had three assists and got under Montreal star-defenseman P.K. Subban’s skin in a 5-2 Columbus victory over Montreal. In other words, it was just Dubinsky being Dubinsky.
Tuesday, 1/26:
-Derrick Pouliot notched his first assist of the year from Pittsburgh in their 2-0 win over New Jersey.
-Brandon Dubinsky had a goal and an assist and Seth Jones added an “apple” as Columbus beat Montreal 5-2 for the second consecutive night.
Wednesday, 1/27:
-Ryan Johansen had his 27th assist of the year in a 2-1 Nashville victory over Calgary. He is tied for 17th in the NHL in this category, despite all of the drama he went through in Columbus before being traded.
-Jason LaBarbera was called up to Philadelphia from Lehigh Valley again as Steve Mason is out with an injury.

Winterhawks in the AHL:

Friday, 1/22:
-Nic Petan and Chase De Leo assisted on Manitoba’s tying goal in the third period, but they ultimately fell to Milwaukee 2-1 in OT.
Saturday, 1/23:
-Taylor Aronson had an assist as Milwaukee swept Manitoba on the weekend 1-0.
-Craig Cunningham had an assist for Springfield in their 5-4 win over Providence.
Sunday, 1/24:
-Brendan Leipsic scored an amazing short-handed goal in Toronto’s 7-1 victory over Utica. Travis Ehrhardt was a stunning minus-five in the Comets’ loss.
Monday, 1/25:
-Taylor Leier had a great game, as he had one goal and two assists and then added a shootout marker as Lehigh Valley beat Hershey 6-5.
Tuesday, 1/26:
-Nic Petan had two assists and Chase De Leo had one, but Manitoba still fell to Bakersfield 6-3.
Wednesday, 1/27:
-Taylor Leier had another assist as Lehigh Valley beat Binghamton 6-3. Leier has five points over his last three games.

Winterhawks in the ECHL:

Friday, 1/22:
-Kevin Young had an assist as Reading lost to Brampton 2-1.
-Troy Rutkowski returned to the ECHL, after a brief stint with Binghamton of the AHL. He fired three shots on net and was a minus-one in a 6-3 Evansville win over Greenville.
-Mac Carruth stopped 29 of 30 shots in a 2-1 Indy win over Quad City. The next day, he was called up as an emergency backup to Rockford of the AHL.
-Anton Cederholm assisted on the Kalamazoo Wings’ lone goal in their 2-1 loss Wheeling.
Saturday, 1/23:
-Gasper Kopitar notched his sixth goal of the year and it was the, eventual game winner as Manchester edged Adirondack 2-1.
-Thomas Frazee had an assist as Atlanta fell to Evansville 4-3.
-Daniel Johnston assisted on Alaska’s lone goal in their 3-1 loss to Idaho.
Sunday, 1/24:
-Two more assists for William Wrenn as Alaska got revenge on Idaho 3-2.
Monday, 1/25: 
-Cam Reid had an assist but Reading fell to Brampton again 3-2.
Tuesday, 1/26:
-Troy Rutkowski had an assist for Evansville as they fell to Missouri in OT, 6-5.
Wednesday, 1/27:
-Cam Reid scored the eventual game-winning-goal in a crazy 7-5 Reading victory over Elmira. Goaltending was apparently optional.