With a 50-shot offensive effort and a 6-4 victory over the Tri-City Americans, the Portland Winterhawks make their homecoming. With 41 of their own shots, the Ams put up a fight, tying the game twice and trimming Portland’s lead from two to one twice. However, Portland won the points since they were unable to overcome the hump.
-
Game preview
-
Game thread with game updates and postgame reaction.
-
The off day forum
Scoring summary
| 1st 9:02 POR (PP) Diego Buttazzoni (Tyson Jugnauth, Kyle Chyzowski) 1-0 | Buttazzoni gets an initial shot that is saved by Lukas Matecha, who also saves Chyzowski s rebound. Tri-City tries to clear, but Jugnauth intercepts the pass and swings it to Buttazzoni for another one-timer from the right circle. |
| 1st 13:02 TC (PP) Brandon Whynott (Max Curran, Charlie Elick) 1-1 | Elick sets up Curran for a long right point shot. Ondrej t bet k stops it but the rebound goes to Whynott at the bottom of the right and he releases quickly to put it in before t bet k can react. |
| 1st 16:35 POR Josh Zakreski (Joel Plante, Max P eni ka) 2-1 | P eni ka from center ice throws a puck into the slot. Plante knocks it down, and with the puck bouncing around, Zakreski shows good hands to one-time it in. |
| 2nd 10:03 TC Cash Koch (Jackson Smith, Savin Virk) 2-2 | Virk wins a faceoff to Smith, who too the puck down into the right corner, then passes back to Koch in the slot for the snap. |
| 2nd 19:54 POR (PP) Tyson Jugnauth (Kyle Chyzowski, Josh Zakreski) 3-2 | A wrister by Jugnauth through traffic from the top of the right circle. Chyzowski and Zakreski passed it around as part of the power play. |
| 3rd 1:37 POR Alex Weiermair (Kyle Chyzowski, Carter Sotheran) 4-2 | Weiermair from the top of the right circle, not a great goal for Matecha. Sotheran, Weiermair, and Chyzowski were all part of the breakout before Weiermair got it back. |
| 3rd 5:58 TC Cruz Pavao (Jackson Smith) 4-3 | Smith takes the puck coast-to-coast into the slot. He gets poke-checked but P eni ka can t control the puck and it goes to Pavao for a one-time backhand that beats t bet k five-hole. |
| 3rd 9:54 POR Carsyn Dyck (Tyson Jugnauth, Ryan Miller) 5-3 | Miller hustles past Ismail Abougouche and Jaxen Adam to win the puck in the Portland corner after along pass by Jugnauth. He gets it back to Dyck, whose long shot hits Abougouche in front and goes past Matecha. |
| 3rd 16:17 TC (PP) Max Curran (Jackson Smith, Jake Sloan) 5-4 | Curran from the left side takes the puck into the slot, toe drags and wrists one in. Smith made a nice play to hold the puck in, and Sloan was part of an earlier passing play. |
| 3rd 19:05 POR (EN) Josh Zakreski (Diego Buttazzoni, Ryder Thompson) 6-4 | With Portland constantly threatening the empty net, Buttazzoni knocked the puck past Elick to get through center and into the Ams zone. He fans on the first shot but gets it back and throws it to the net; it was probably going in but Zakreski tipped it in to make sure. Thompson wrapped it around the boards to get it to Buttazzoni. |
| Portland leads by 2+ | 11:39 |
| Portland leads by 1 | 25:55 |
| Tied | 22:26 |
| Portland trails by 1 | 0:00 |
| Portland trails by 2+ | 0:00 |
Narratives
Pregame: After a few weekends away, the Winterhawks made their way back home in an attempt to bounce back from a historic defeat at the conclusion of their six-game road tour. They were heavy favorites over the Ams, who were attempting to recover from the league’s worst run of play without losing badly the remainder of the season. Max P. Eni Ka, a prospect in the NHL mid-round draft, made his debut with the Winterhawks.
First period: Portland scored 21–15, making it a very high event session. At one time, Portland had a 17–6 advantage after scoring a goal on a power play. From there, the Ams rallied, but after leveling the score, they gave up the advantage. Lukas Matecha performed admirably for Tri-City.
Second period: After the Ams leveled the score in a pretty even period, Portland regained the lead with a goal from Tyson Jugnauth with six seconds remaining. Midway through, Kyle McDonough received a major for cross-checking and game misconduct, but Tri-City squandered it by committing two penalties.
In the third period, Portland doubled their lead to two points, and Tri-City twice reduced it to one point but were unable to get any closer. With just than two minutes remaining, they pulled the goaltender, but Portland outscored them and eventually scored the game-winning empty-net goal.
How it was won: 50 shots against an American defense that was quite vulnerable.
Carsyn Dyck’s game-winning goal, which deflected off Ismail Abougouche and gave the Winterhawks another two-goal lead, was a crucial stretch or moment.
It may seem surprising, but Portland has the greatest special teams goal differential in the league, therefore it’s surprising when they just draw the special teams, in this case 2-2.
Not surprisingly: If you were to create a pregame script for this game, it would say that Portland would win 6-4, that both teams would have a ton of shots, and that Kyle Chyzowski and Jugnauth would each score three points.
There are no disputes.
Yes, the best squad prevailed.
Suspensions and injuries: Early in the second period, Kyle McDonough gave Jaxen Adam a cross-check similar to that of Connor McDavid and Tyler Myers, which resulted in a major and game misconduct. If he avoids the three-game punishment those players received, he will be fortunate. Since Adam was unharmed, he is unlikely to receive a TBD suspension, unlike Tri-City’s Jake Gudelj, who is now serving one.
The players
| Top 10 | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Josh Zakreski | POR | 2 goals, 1 assist | His line with Buttazzoni was Portland s best. |
| Diego Buttazzoni | POR | 1 goal, 1 assist | Broke a 3-game scoreless streak, and had 9 shots. |
| Jackson Smith | TC | 3 assists | Didn t get a lot of help on defense, but set up the goals and was solid all game. |
| Tyson Jugnauth | POR | 1 goal, 2 assists | Didn t control the game as he sometimes does, but still made the plays to pick up 3 points. Increases his WHL power play point lead to 3 points, and now has a 9-game point streak. |
| Kyle Chyzowski | POR | 3 assists | 7-game point streak. Back alone in 3rd place, 3 points behind leader Andrew Cristall. Also tied for 3rd in power play points. |
| Charlie Elick | TC | 1 assist | An unfair -2; one was on an empty-netter (although he was involved), and one was a goalie miss. Also didn t get a lot of help; he wasn t responsible for 50 shots. |
| Ryan Miller | POR | 1 assist | Nice play on what ended up being the game-winner, and was strong in general. |
| Max Curran | TC | 1 goal, 1 assist | 5-game point streak. |
| Ondrej t bet k | POR | 37 saves-41 shots | Made just enough saves to get the Winterhawks over the line. |
| Lukas Matecha | TC | 44 saves-49 shots | Made some really good saves, but then let in a couple he maybe shouldn t have. A microcosm for Tri-City s game overall. |
| Other notables | Stat line | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Max P eni ka | POR | 1 assist | You can see he ll be good, but was merely OK in this one, despite his first WHL point. |
| Jake Sloan | TC | 1 assist | 5-game point streak. |
| Carter MacAdams | TC | 3-game point streak snapped. |
Postgame
| Winterhawks | Americans | |
|---|---|---|
| Record |
26-16-2-1 (.611) |
22-17-3-1 (.558) |
| Goals/game |
4.1 |
3.7 |
| Goals allowed/game | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| Team shooting % |
.115 |
.108 |
| Team save % |
.883 |
.884 |
| Power play |
26.7% |
15.7% |
| Penalty kill | 76.9% | 81.2% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.2 |
3.6 |
| Power plays against/game | 3.8 | 3.8 |
| Outshooting opponents |
20-23-2 |
21-22 |
| After 1 period |
14-19-12 |
12-18-13 |
| After 2 periods |
17-22-6 |
18-16-9 |
| Score, last 10 games |
47-45 (+2) |
32-52 (-20) |
| Score, last 20 games |
91-82 (+9) |
57-92 (-35) |
The Portland Winterhawks
They are only two points behind the Victoria Royals for third place in the conference, despite the Royals holding the second seed due to their division lead, and they are tied with the Prince George Cougars for fourth place. When they play the Wild on Saturday, they must endure a difficult overnight flight to Wenatchee.
Americans from the Tri-Cities
They have only won four of their last 19 games. Additionally, they must return home for the night to play the league’s hottest team, the Medicine Hat Tigers. For sixth and seventh place, it’s a dogfight with the Vancouver Giants.
Next games
Wenatchee, Saturday, 1/25, 6 p.m. PST
Medicine Hat on Friday, 1/31, 7 p.m. PST
Victoria on Saturday, 2/1, at 6 p.m. PST
Looking ahead: Everett, Friday, 2/21, 7 p.m. PST
Tri-City’s next game is on Friday, March 21, at 7 p.m. PDT.
