Seattle Thunderbirds at Portland Winterhawks, Game 3: Preview, updates, chat, how to listen and watch the stream
What: The Portland Winterhawks (53-16-3-2) take on the Seattle Thunderbirds (48-21-4-2) in Game 3 of their 2nd round best-of-7 Western Hockey League playoff series. The Winterhawks lead the series 2 games to 0.
When: Wednesday, May 11, 7pm.
Where: Memorial Coliseum.
Watch: You can stream the game via the CHL TV pay per view (CDN$8.99 for one game).
Listen: Winterhawks and Thunderbirds audio.
Follow:
- The box score.
- Get updates and chat before, during, and after the game.
The Winterhawks are up 2-0 in the series, after a late 2-1 win from a spectacular play by Jaydon Dureau to set up Gabe Klassen with the shorthanded winning goal late in the game. Taylor Gauthier won the goalie battle again after Thomas Milic made a costly turnover to set up Dureau’s setup. It was the second game in a row a special teams play decided the game late. And the Winterhawks’ defensemen have played to a draw a Seattle group that looked better on paper.
Portland is in better shape than the standard 2-0 lead, because they’ve already won a game on the road, with the series starting in Seattle because of scheduling. They have three games at home to try to win two more, and as a backup plan they’ve had a good record at accesso ShoWare Center.
The downsides: the offense hasn’t gotten going, in either playoff round. In the playoffs they are only averaging 2.8 goals a game, 8th among all the playoff participants, and 7th among the teams that are left. And, while it may not matter much to the present team, Portland historically hasn’t always played well at home in the playoffs. The Prince George series was the first time in their last eight playoff series they’d won all their games at home; they’d lost two home games in five of those series, and in those series they were 5-11 at home. So history suggests this isn’t quite over yet, but if they win Wednesday, it will be pretty much.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 22-Jaydon Dureau (216 games) |
| 19 | 11-Robbie Fromm-Delorme (188) 18-Tyson Kozak (162) 71-Cross Hanas (207) |
| 18 | 9-Aidan Litke (75) 13-James Stephen (129) 16-gift classes (123) 21-Jonah Bevington (61) 67-Dawson Pasternak (34) 92-Jack O’Brien (135) |
| 17 | 17-Luke Shelter (74) 19-Kyle Chyzowski (94) 72-Marcus Nguyen (90) |
| 16 | 15-Nicholas Johnson (2) 28-Josh Zakreski (15) |
Classes is the leading scorer in the series with 3 points; Fromm-Delorme and Kozak have 2. Neither of the top forward lines has clicked on a consistent basis, but they’ve won games with isolated single plays.
Leading forwards: Hanas (89 points/69 games), Stefan (83/74), Kozak (72/72), Klassen (72/74), Dureau (68/53).
| defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 58-Clay Hanus (266) |
| 19 | 23-Kurtis Smythe (121) |
| 18 | 6-Ryan McCleary (87) |
| 17 | 8-Josh Mori (42) 26-Marek Alscher (67) 43-Ryder Thompson (78) 73-Luca Cagnoni (79) |
Hanus has 2 points in the series, both in Game 1 when he was the top performer.
Leading defensemen: Hanus (77/71), Cagnoni (39/69), McCleary (30/69).
| goalies | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 35-Taylor Gauthier (200) |
| 19 | 31-Dante Giannuzzi (68) |
Gauthier at .959 has the top save percentage in the playoffs.
Save percentages: Gauthier .932, Giannuzzi .891.
As the Thunderbirds try to climb out of a 2-0 hole, their first task has to be to figure out how to beat Gauthier. It’s hard to beat a goalie with a .944 save percentage, although they’ve come close twice. Task two is to make some plays in the 3rd period. They’ve had six close games against Portland since January and have lost them all.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 12-Henrik Rybinski (252) 21-Lukas Svejkovsky (225) |
| 19 | 29-Jared Davidson (204) 32-Matthew Rempe (117) |
| 18 | 15-Mekai Sanders (103) 18-Sam Popovich (101) 24-Reid Schaefer (98) 34-Conner Roulette (138) 47-Lucas Ciona (138) |
| 17 | 7-Jordan Gustafson (89) 11-gift Ludwig (85) 26-Nico Myatovic (86) |
| 16 | 19-Sam Oremba (78) 23-Ethan Mittelsteadt (16) |
| 15 | 8-Bryce Pickford (4) |
Davidson and Ciona have 2 points each (Svejkovsky also does although he’s been wrongly gifted an assist that should be Korchinski’s). Rybinski and Roulette have made little impact, which most certainly has to change for them, and Schaefer’s impact has been taking bad penalties.
Leading forwards: Davidson (102/71), Svejkovsky (83/64), Roulette (72/72), Rybinski (71/54), Schaefer (65/73).
| defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 27-Ryan Gottfried (193) |
| 19 | 6-Tyrel Bauer (194) 20-Samuel Knazko (34) 44-Chase Lacombe (102) |
| 18 | 4-Jeremy Hanzel (93) 5-Leon Okonkwo Prada (50) |
| 17 | 14-Kevin Korchinski (98) |
| 16 | 3-Niko Tsakumis (11) 43-Sawyer Mynio (51) |
Korchinski has played decently, he should have one assist for a setup in Game 2. They need a LOT more from Knazko.
Leading defensemen: Korchinski (74/74), Hanzel (35/70), Knazko (24/34).
| goalies | |
|---|---|
| 18 | 35-Thomas Milic (65) |
| 16 | 33-Scott Ratzlaff (25) |
Milic was playing well in Game 2 until he tried to keep playing going after a save during a Seattle power play and turned the puck over to Dureau for the winning goal.
Save percentages: Milic .913, Ratzlaff .904.
| Winterhawks | Thunderbirds | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| records | 53-16-3-2 | 48-21-4-2 | |
| Goal difference | +116 | +103 | |
| goals/game | 4.3 | 4.0 | 3.4 |
| Goals allowed/game | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.4 |
| power play | 24.8% | 24.4% | 21.2% |
| Penalty kill | 83.7% | 83.4% | 78.8% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 4.2 | 4.0 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.0 | 4.3 | 4.0 |
| Outshooting opponents | 55-19 | 58-16-1 | |
| After 1 period | 37-19-18 | 37-20-18 | |
| After 2 periods | 42-20-12 | 44-18-13 | |
| Score, last 10 games | 38-17 | 43-21 | |
| Score, last 20 games | 81-49 | 83-46 |
Join us here at my site. Everyone is welcome.