WHL Portland Winterhawks

Winterhawks Beat Seattle 6-3 Saturday

Published on February 6, 2010 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Portland Winterhawks News Release


The Portland Winterhawks exploded for four second period goals as they won their 10th straight over the Seattle Thunderbirds this season by a score of 6-3 Saturday at the ShoWare Center in Kent, Washington.

It was one of Portland's most balanced efforts of the season: six goals from six different players, while 15 players registered a point.

However, it was the Thunderbirds who opened the scoring 4:55 into the game when defenseman Brenden Dillon put a shot past Winterhawks goaltender Mac Carruth to give Seattle the 1-0 lead. The Winterhawks struck back at the 17:34 mark on a power play on the ninth goal of the season by defenseman Troy Rutkowski to even the score at 1-1. But the Thunderbirds would get a goal in the final minute of the opening period as Charles Wells scored a power play goal with 41 seconds to go in the frame to give Seattle the 2-1 lead heading into the second period.

While Portland went into the second down by one, the game changed dramatically in that frame. Portland erupted for four goals in the second period, including three in a span of 3:23. The fireworks began when Luke Walker tied the game at 2-2 with his 22nd goal of the season at the 6:24 mark. The Hawks took their first lead of the game 2:09 later on a goal by Stefan Schneider, then just 1:14 after Schneider's goal, Oliver Gabriel made it 4-2. The Hawks weren't done there as Nino Niederreiter notched his 31st goal of the season at the 15:25 mark, making it 5-2 in favor of Portland heading into the third period.

Seattle made a change in net as the third period opened, replacing Pickard with Michael Salmon. The Thunderbirds then cut the lead to two when Luke Lockhart made it 5-3 with his fifth of the season at the 6:17 mark. Seattle pulled Salmon late in the third period to try to even the score, but Taylor Peters sealed the win with an empty net goal with 1:24 remaining, giving Portland the 6-3 victory. It was the same score as the night before, when Portland defeated Seattle 6-3 Friday at the Rose Garden. The Winterhawks have now won all 10 games between the two teams this season.

With his goal tonight, Niederreiter now has goals in four straight games, and with 31 goals on the season he's the first Winterhawk to hit the 30-goal plateau since Dan Da Silva and Cody McLeod with 31 each in 2004-05.

Carruth made his sixth straight start in net for Portland while Ian Curtis nurses an injury, and with the win Carruth has gone 4-1-1 in that span, and now has seven wins on the season.

Next up for the Winterhawks will be the first place Tri-City Americans Wednesday night at 7 p.m. That game was originally scheduled for the Rose Garden, but has been moved to the Memorial Coliseum to accommodate the rescheduled Billy Joel and Elton John concert.

Check out the Portland Winterhawks Statistics

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Western Hockey League Stories from February 6, 2010


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