PORTLAND, Ore. — The Everett Silvertips were two minutes away from putting themselves in position to steal one on the road.
But the Portland Winterhawks’ quick-strike offense did its thing, and the Silvertips quickly saw the game get out of hand.
Portland scored two quick goals on either side of the second intermission, and the Winterhawks defeated the Tips 5-3 Thursday night at Memorial Coliseum to take a 2-1 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series.
Oliver Bjorkstrand scored two goals to lead Portland in a game that wasn’t nearly as close as the final score suggests. The Winterhawks outshot Everett 36-19 and led 5-0 before the Tips scored three times in the final four minutes to make the final scoreline deceiving.
Yet despite the tilted ice, Everett was just moments away from taking a scoreless tie into the third period.
“I liked how we started,” Everett coach Kevin Constantine said. “I didn’t even mind our second period. When you go on the road and keep a game tight, I think it’s not bad. We made a mistake and gave them their first goal, I didn’t particularly mind that. But the lack of discipline we showed after that does bother me, because we needed to come out of that second period down 1-0 and not 2-0. We started to take really undisciplined penalties, so that part really disappoints me because (discipline) has been part of our success during the year.”
Nicolas Petan added a goal and two assists for Portland, while Anton Cederholm and Dominic Turgeon also found the net for the Winterhawks. Adin Hill earned the win in goal with 16 saves.
“I thought we started the right way, played the right way and finally broke through,” Portland coach Jamie Kompon said. “Their goalie was outstanding early and made some big saves and we held them at bay.”
Kevin Davis, Ivan Nikolishin and Graham Millar scored the late goals for Everett. Carter Hart stopped 30 of the 34 shots he faced in goal before being rested down the stretch. Austin Lotz stopped one of two in relief.
For nearly two full periods Portland had more of the puck, but Everett kept the Winterhawks contained, and the Tips were on the verge of taking a scoreless tie into the third. But then Portland broke the game open with two goals 23 seconds apart.
It began with 2:08 remaining in the second. A blown defensive assignment defending the rush left Cederholm all alone as he jumped into the play from his defensive position. Miles Koules found Cederholm with a centering pass, and Cederholm directed it past Hart to make it 1-0.
Just 14 seconds later Everett’s Nikita Scherbak took a tripping penalty, and Portland needed just another six seconds to double its lead. The puck was quickly worked to Petan at the top of the right circle. He cut toward the middle and rifled a shot past Hart to give the Winterhawks a sudden 2-0 lead.
It was more of the same for Portland early in the third period. Bjorkstrand got his first 3:22 into the period when he tapped Paul Bittner’s centering feed gently under Hart to make it 3-0. Then Bjorkstrand struck on the power play 1:47 later, blowing a one-timer from the right circle past Hart to give Portland a four-goal cushion.
Bjorkstrand and Petan, Portland’s stars who were kept relatively quiet in the first two games of the series, did most of the damage during that four-goal outburst.
“You have to keep them off the power play and you have to know their tendencies on the power play,” Constantine said about Bjorkstrand and Petan breaking through. “I thought we did an OK job five-on-five, but Bjorkstrand scored on the power play, Petan’s goal was on the power play. Our lack of discipline put those guys on the power play, and some mistakes penalty killing gave them wide-open opportunities. That was all part of us coming apart a little bit toward the end of the second and the start of the third.”
Lotz relieved Hart following the third-period media timeout, and Portland scored again shortly after as Turgeon intercepted a shot in front, then spun around Lotz at 14:27 to turn the game into an apparent rout.
Everett got three quick ones in garbage time. Davis scored with 3:55 remaining when his shot off the rush went straight through Hill, Nikolishin finished off a feed from Scherbak 1:32 later, and Millar chipped one over Hill on the rush from the ensuing faceoff to take a touch of the gloss off the victory for Portland.
Not that Constantine was taking any solace from the late goals.
“I think my least favorite sayings in hockey are, ‘Let’s go on the road to play two, and let’s go for a split,’ and ‘Hey, we had a good third period,’” Constantine said. “I don’t find anything in that at all. They had a 5-0 lead and let up a little bit. I’m glad our guys kept playing and trying, but that’s not where the game’s won. The game’s won when it’s 0-0, not when it’s 5-0.”
Slap shots
Everett welcomed winger Dawson Leedahl back to the lineup. Leedahl missed the previous five games because of injury. However, defenseman Noah Juulsen remained out, missing his third straight. … Portland made an adjustment to its top line. The Winterhawks finished Game 2 with Keegan Iverson replacing Paul Bittner on the line with Bjorkstrand and Petan. Iverson started with Bjorkstrand and Petan on Thursday.
Winterhawks 5, Silvertips 3
Everett 0 0 3—3
Portland 0 2 3—5
First Period—no goals. Penalties—none.
Second Period—1, Portland, Cederholm 1 (Koules, McKenzie), 17:52. 2, Portland, Petan 6 (De Leo, Henry), 18:13 (pp). Penalties—Leedahl, Everett (fighting), 10:27; Iverson, Portland (instigator-fighting-10-minute misconduct), 10:27; Scherbak, Everett (tripping), 18:06; Leedahl, Everett (cross checking), 19:00.
Third Period—3, Portland, Bjorkstrand 7 (Bittner, Petan), 3:22. 4, Portland, Bjorkstrand 8 (De Leo, Petan), 5:09 (pp). 5, Portland, Turgeon 6 (Koules), 14:27. 6, Everett, Davis 1 (Skrumeda, Aasman), 16:05; 7, Everett, Nikolishin 3 (Scherbak), 17:37. 8, Everett, Millar 1 (Aasman), 17:51. Penalties—Scherbak, Everett (tripping), 4:25; Schoenborn, Portland (cross checking), 5:27; Low, Everett (roughing), 9:46; McKenzie, Portland (roughing), 9:46; Betker, Everett (slashing), 9:57; Betker, Everett (roughing), 12:16.
Shots on goal—Everett 6-7-6—19. Portland 10-19-7—36. Power-play opportunities—Everett 0 of 2. Portland 2 of 5.
Goalies—Everett, Hart 5-4 (34 shots, 30 saves), Lotz (2 shots, 1 saves). Portland, Hill 6-3 (19 shots, 16 saves).
A—5,518.
Check out Nick Patterson’s Silvertips blog at http://www.heraldnet.com/silvertipsblog, and follow him on Twitter at @NickHPatterson.
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