Hawks score late but stumble in Seattle
The Winterhawks fell behind early and couldn’t overcome the deficit, falling in regulation time for just the second time this year.
Game #21: Portland (1) at Seattle (6)
SOG: POR (21) – SEA (35)
PP: POR (1/6) – SEA (1/3)
Saves: Špunar (29/35) – Milic (20/21)
COMPLETE BOX SCORE
SCORING:
- SEA – 17:14 – First Period – Nolan Allan (5) from Nico Myatovic and Jeremy Hanzel
- SEA – 18:00 – Second Period – Kyle Crnkovic (10) from Kevin Korchinski and Reid Schaefer
- SEA – 19:57 – Second Period – Nico Myatovic (8) from Nolan Allan and Kyle Crnkovic
- SEA – 2:56 – Third Period – Bryce Pickford (1) from Tij Iginla and Mekai Sanders
- POR – 5:09 – Third Period – Gabe Klassen (15) from Jack O’Brien and Luca Cagnoni
- SEA – 16:16 – Third Period – Jared Davidson (11) from Kyle Crnkovic and Lucas Ciona
- SEA – 17:01 – Third Period – Tij Iginla (2) from Nolan Allan and Coster Dunn
The Story:
Gabe Klassen tallied his team-leading 15th goal of the year, but the Winterhawks (17-2-1-1) came up short in Seattle as the Thunderbirds (15-3-1-0) took a 6-1 victory on Friday to beat Portland for the first time this season.
Portland saw its nine-game winning streak snapped with the loss, but remains in first place in the Western Conference.
As they did the last time these two teams met, the Thunderbirds got on the board first with Nolan Allan’s first in a Seattle sweater 17:14 into the contest. Portland mounted pressure late in the frame and early in the second, but Seattle’s prolific attack struck for a pair in the final two minutes of period two, with Kyle Crnkovic and Nico Myatovic making it a 3-0 game through 40 minutes.
The Thunderbirds extended their lead to four with Bryce Pickford’s tally early in the third, but Klassen broke their shutout bid with a Portland PPG at 5:09 of the frame, depositing a Jack O’Brien pass from the right circle. Klassen’s goal gave the Hawks life, but two more Seattle strikes in the final five minutes from Jared Davidson and Tij Iginla sealed two points for the hosts.
The Winterhawks are back in action on Sunday at 2:00 P.M. in Langley, B.C. against the Vancouver Giants.
QUOTE OF THE NIGHT presented by BBF TECHNOLOGIES:
“Any time you have a game like that, you just kinda wanna learn from it and then let it go as soon as you can. Luckily we have a game Sunday to improve on that and see what we can do.”
Winterhawks forward Gabe Klassen
