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nelson951
04-05-2006, 11:18 AM
T-birds win amid more controversy
By Jim Riley

Special to The Seattle Times


PORTLAND — This time good fortune smiled on the Seattle Thunderbirds.

The T-birds followed a controversial non-goal with a real one and went on to beat the Portland Winter Hawks 5-2 and even their opening-round Western Hockey League playoff series with the Portland Winter Hawks at three games apiece.

The deciding Game 7 will be played tonight at KeyArena.

The key sequence of the game came in the first period with the score tied at 1.

The Winter Hawks stormed the Seattle goal with a 3-on-1, and Kyle Bailey appeared to have scored the go-ahead goal. The puck hit the left post, bounced directly across to the right post and away from the net. Seattle picked up the loose puck, and Kyle Pess fed Greg Scott for a goal to make it 2-1 at the 18:52 mark of the period.

Referee Andy Thiessen hesitated to drop the puck after the Seattle score, and initial replays at the Rose Garden appeared to show that the puck went in. Then, as Thiessen talked to his linesmen and considered what to do and 6,694 fans rose in protest, another replay clearly showed that the puck did not go in.

The goal judge never turned the red light on, and the referee isn't allowed to use video to make a goal determination. He can, however, speak to the goal judge and his linesmen before making a decision.

If Thiessen had ruled Bailey's redirection with his skate blade a goal, he would have had to take away Seattle's goal and Portland would have led 2-1.

Instead the T-birds held the lead in a period in which Portland outshot Seattle 18-6 and had the majority of the scoring chances.

In Game 3 of the series at the Rose Garden, the Winter Hawks scored the winning goal with a shot that should have been waved off because it was knocked in with a high stick.

Seattle captain Aaron Gagnon wasn't worried.

"I could see from the bench it didn't go in," Gagnon said. "It really helped us that it wasn't a goal, but we weren't really worried about it."

Tyler Johnson and Aaron Gagnon both knocked in rebounds in the second period to give Seattle at 4-1 lead, but Portland came back with Jon Bubnick's second goal of the game to make it 4-2 entering the third period.

The T-birds scored first when Ryan Gibbons worked the puck free from behind the net and found Lladislav Scurko for his second goal of the playoffs at 3:06 of the first period.

It took Portland only 27 seconds to answer on one of those horrendous breakdowns that have plagued Seattle all season. Bubnick and Jannik Hansen broke free 2-on-0 and Bubnick scored his first playoff goal.