Birds Knot Series

birds win 6-3, pull even
By Jason Vondersmith

Special to The Seattle Times


PORTLAND — The first five Seattle goals came on even-strength play, with Chris Durand and Tyler Johnson each netting two in Seattle's 6-3 win over Portland in Game 4 of their Western Hockey League playoff series Friday night at the Rose Garden.

With the best-of-seven series tied at 2, Game 5 will be at 7 tonight at KeyArena.

"We have that shift in home-ice advantage we wanted," Durand said.

The Thunderbirds had to be good when at even strength, because the power play continues to sputter. Seattle went 0 for 8 and is 0 for 18 in the past three games.

And Portland had about a dozen quality chances to score, outshooting the T-birds 39-28, but goalie Bryan Bridges and his defense made key plays.

"It shows we're playing good five on five," Durand said, "but to get through this series and to go deeper into the playoffs, we have to get the power play going."

Just 1:36 into the game, Johnson took a center-ice pass from Kyle Pess and scooted past Portland defenseman Michael Sauer before beating goalie Kurtis Mucha with a backhand to put the T-birds up 1-0. Both Durand goals came after he forced Portland defenseman Cameron Cepek to cough up the puck.

He later stole the puck from Cepek and kept the possession alive in the offensive zone. Scott Jackson shot from the point and Durand redirected it into the net for a 2-0 Seattle lead at 4:12.

Jannik Hansen, Portland's best player in Game 4, scored at 7:35 to draw the Winter Hawks to 2-1. The first period ended with Portland's Jon Bubnick shooting wide of Bridges' net at point-blank range.

Seattle extended the lead to 5-2 in an exciting, penalty-filled second period.

Durand took advantage of Cepek's second bad turnover, and beat Mucha at 2:32 of the second.

Bud Holloway put Seattle ahead 4-1 at 7:50. Hansen responded with a goal less than two minutes later, with Seattle coach Rob Sumner protesting that a T-birds defenseman was interfered with.

During four-on-four play, Hansen lost control in the Portland zone, and the T-birds' Pess fed Johnson, whose second goal of the game put Seattle ahead 5-2 at 16:06.




Bridges played great, Mucha did not
2nd Hawk goal bizarre, chuck-a-puck interes with play then pick rubs out Tbird dman. Savage reffed. Say no more
Birds in 6