Hawks hit 40 wins with 3-1 victory over Seattle
The Winterhawks wrapped up the regular season with a key rivalry win to hit 40 victories on the year.
Game #68: Portland (3) at Seattle (1)
SOG: POR (28) – SEA (30)
PP: POR (1/6) – SEA (0/4)
Saves: Špunar (29/30) – Ratzlaff (25/27)
COMPLETE BOX SCORE
SCORING:
- SEA – 4:06 – First Period – Dylan Guenther (13) from Sawyer Mynio
- POR – 9:22 – Second Period – Luke Schelter (8) from Josh Zakreski and Diego Buttazzoni
- POR – 12:53 – Second Period – Josh Zakreski (13) from Marcus Nguyen and Marek Alscher
- POR – 19:24 – Third Period – Ryan McCleary (13) from Robbie Fromm-Delorme and Gabe Klassen *EN
The Story:
Josh Zakreski posted two points and Jan Špunar turned aside 29 of 30 shots as the Winterhawks (40-20-5-3) knocked off the top-seeded Seattle Thunderbirds (54-11-1-2) by a 3-1 final to wrap up the regular season.
The victory helps Portland reach its sixth-straight 40-win season.
Seattle picked up where it left off last night with a quick strike from Dylan Guenther, but the Winterhawks held strong and punched back with two tallies of their own in the second period. Luke Schelter tied things up at 9:22 of the middle frame with a wrister off the rush from the left circle, set up by Zakreski. Then, Zakreski nabbed his own to put Portland ahead for the first time at 12:53 as he tapped home his own rebound on the power play after a slick cross-ice feed from Marcus Nguyen.
Špunar put on a fine display in the final frame with 11 saves to preserve his team’s lead, and Ryan McCleary iced Portland’s victory with a late empty-netter after a push from the T-Birds.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT presented by BBF TECHNOLOGIES:
“We had a mindset coming into this game that we wanted to win here. I know we all wanted to get to the 40-win mark. That was a benchmark for us at the beginning of the season so it was a huge win for us and critical going into playoffs.”
Winterhawks forward Josh Zakreski
