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View Full Version : Kootenay's five-goal second period decides Game 2



Malc
05-08-2011, 12:46 PM
By Jim Beseda

Among the secrets to playoff hockey success are short memories and resilience.

The Winterhawks lost a game and at least in the second period their cools Saturday night, falling 7-5 to the Kootenay Ice before a sellout crowd of 10,947 at the Rose Garden.

With the WHL Championship series tied at 1-1 heading into Game 3, the Winterhawks now face a character test -- whether they can put the loss and their momentary lapse of poise behind them.

“I complemented the guys on how they played in the third period,” Portland coach Mike Johnston said. “With that type of effort, I thought our puck movement was really good … and it was disappointing that we fell short.”

Saturday's game turned in the second period when the Winterhawks drew 18 minutes in penalties and the Ice scored four consecutive power-play goals by Max Reinhart, Cody Eakin, Steele Boomer and Kevin King in less than six minutes to extend a 2-1 lead to 6-1.

The Winterhawks mounted a vigorous comeback, getting a short-handed goal from Sven Bartschi in the final minute of the second period, plus third-period goals from Bartschi, Taylor Peters and Joe Morrow in a span of 2:02 that cut the Kootenay lead to 6-5 with 11:46 remaining.

King’s empty-net goal at 19:50 sealed the decision.

“We knew Portland wasn’t going to go away,” Kootenay coach Kris Knoblauch said. “Unfortunately, we gave them a little bit of life at the end of the second period, giving them the short-handed goal, and they came out strong in the third period.

“We kind of got away from our game plan, but … we end up getting the win, and I guess that’s what we came here for.”

The game was even up to the point when Matt Fraser scored his second goal of the game to give Kootenay a 2-1 lead with 6:54 in the second period.

Shortly after that, the Winterhawks started parading to the penalty box, beginning with Brad Ross drawing a double minor -– one for roughing, another for tripping -– at the 7:25 mark.

That was followed by Tayler Jordan’s major penalty for checking from behind and a game misconduct at 7:48, a minor on Troy Rutkowski for interference at 12:38, a minor on Pearce Eviston for tripping at 13:36, and a major on Riley Boychuk for elbowing and a game misconduct at 15:59.

“That obviously was a key turning for them to take advantage of that,” Johnston said. “I’ve coached over 25 years and I’ve never seen that many calls in a row on a team.

“Were some of them questionable? I’m not sure, I don’t want to comment on that now, but certainly that was a key turning point.”

Trailing 6-2, Johnston said the conversation in the dressing room during the second intermission centered on scoring the next goal.

“If we got the first goal in the third period, we knew with the crowd behind us … you never know what can happen in a hockey game,” Johnston said. “You saw the surge and Ryan (Johansen) just about tapped in the tying goal there on the back door, and I thought we had them on their heels.

“I was really proud of how we played in the third, but I thought we let our emotions get the best of us in that second period. We’ve got to play the way we played in the third.”

Shots favored Kootenay 10-9 in the first period, but after King’s power-play goal made the score 6-1 at 14:32 of the second period and chased Portland starting goalie Mac Carruth from the game, shots favored the Ice 29-12.

Notes: Winterhawks 16-year-old defenseman Josh Hanson saw his first playoff action, filling in for Tyler Wotherspoon, who was scratched with an undisclosed injury. ... Portland backup goalie Keith Hamilton stopped all 13 shots he faced in relief of Carruth before leaving the net for an extra attacker with 1:11 to play. ... Kootenay ended up going 4-for-7 on the power play, while Portland was 1-for-3 with the man-advantage. ... Ice goalie Nathan Lieuwen stopped 39 of 44 shots and earned his 13 win in 16 playoff starts. ... With the scored tied 1-1, Bartschi was awarded a penalty shot at 2:27 of the second period when he was tripped up on a partial breakaway by Kootenay's Brayden McNabb. Bartschi shot low, but Lieuwen came up with a pad save.

http://www.oregonlive.com/hawks/index.ssf/2011/05/whl_championship_series_kooten_2.html