Dureau’s PP hat trick leads Winterhawks over shorthanded Seattle - OregonLive

Facing a Seattle Thunderbirds team missing some of its top players and only icing 16 skaters, the Portland Winterhawks were outplayed at even strength, but made the most of their special teams and a Jaydon Dureau hat trick, all on the power play, in a 4-1 win at accesso ShoWare Center in Kent Saturday night.

It puts Portland 5 points ahead of Seattle in the race for 3rd place in the Western Conference of the Western Hockey League. At worst they won’t lose any ground to the Thunderbirds in their home-and-home series this weekend. The two teams play again Sunday in Portland.

• In the first 22 seconds of the game, Mekai Sanders took an undisciplined boarding penalty in the Portland zone, then Dureau quickly scored a power play goal. It happened twice more: Seattle takes a bad penalty (unsportsmanlike conduct on Sam Popowich, roughing on Reid Schaefer) followed by a Dureau power play goal.
• Portland had 1 shot at even strength in the 1st period, but led 1-0 after 20 minutes. It wasn’t quite that bad the next two periods, but the Winterhawks were outplayed overall at even strength.
• Portland’s special teams was the difference in the game. Beside the three power play goals by Dureau against the run of play, they went 4 for 4 on the penalty kill. Three of those were when protecting a one-goal lead, and all four of the kills were decisive.
• Dureau’s 3rd power play goal came 68 seconds after a Jordan Gustafson penalty shot goal cut Portland’s lead to 2-1. That made it 3-1 and quickly stopped any Seattle momentum.
• Portland again won the goaltending behind 33 saves from Taylor Gauthier, the league’s best goalie. Thomas Milic wasn’t at fault on any of the goals, to be fair.

With the players the Thunderbirds were missing, the Winterhawks should have won, and they did. There is a feeling that they should have won easier. The game was played entirely on Seattle’s terms, which it has been every game this calendar year. But Portland has found a way to win most of those games. There are only two more head-to-head games left, and if Seattle and Portland meet in the playoffs it means Portland has done some good in the playoffs. So there isn’t time any more for their luck to turn back against them--they’ve already bested the Thunderbirds.

Portland can really take hold of 3rd spot with another win over Seattle on Sunday.

Missing: top scorers Henrik Rybinski and Jared Davidson, NHL-drafted forwards Matthew Rempe and Lucas Ciona, good stay-at-home defensemen Tyrel Bauer and Ryan Gottfried, and Gabe Ludwig, who’s been a decent depth player.

So it would be a bitter loss for them to have the Winterhawks on the back foot, even with all those players missing, and not be able to take advantage.

Once again, lack of discipline did them in. I want to say they’ll need to get better at this, but it seems like their plan is to double down and talk the officials out of calling things so tight in the playoffs. If that’s their plan, 5th-place Kelowna might not be their best playoff matchup.

0:22 POR (pp) Jaydon Dureau (James Stefan, Cross Hanas) 1-0	Stefan goes backdoor to Dureau for a power play goal.
40:59 POR (pp) Jaydon Dureau (Clay Hanus, Cross Hanas) 2-0	Dureau gets behind the defense to the net and beats Thomas Milic.
42:19 SEA (ps) Jordan Gustafson 2-1	On a 4 on 4, Gustafson gets a breakaway after taking a bobble from James Stefan, who has to take him down. Gustafson then beats Taylor Gauthier on the penalty shot.
43:27 POR (pp) Jaydon Dureau (Tyson Kozak, Clay Hanus) 3-1	Dureau completes the hat trick with his third power play goal, planting the rebound of Kozak’s shot.
50:08 POR Marcus Nguyen (Kyle Chyzowski) 4-1	Nguyen shows great speed, first to win the puck and then to get behind the defense, and he beats Milic.

Top 10		Stat line
Jaydon Dureau	POR	3 goals	Third career hat trick and second of the season. He got third star behind two Thunderbirds, as the spite in that area between Seattle and Portland continues. It’s time to just drop the stars altogether.
Taylor Gauthier	POR	33 saves-34 shots	Didn’t totally steal the game as he had twice before, but the difference in goaltending was significant in a game Seattle won territorially.
Clay Hanus	POR	2 assists	One of the few Winterhawks defensemen who was able to get the puck out of his zone.
Cross Hanas	POR	2 assists	Secondary assists on Dureau power play goals, plus was part of the penalty kill.
Jordan Gustafson	SEA	1 goal	Besides the penalty shot goal, he had a couple other big chances that Gauthier stoned him.
Kevin Korchinski	SEA		Was a big part of Seattle’s even-strength advantage.
Marcus Nguyen	POR	1 goal	His speed is really starting to create chances.
Luca Cagnoni	POR		Almost the only other Winterhawks defensemen who could exit his zone cleanly.
Tyson Kozak	POR	1 assist	Big penalty killer in addition to his assist.
Sam Popowich	SEA

Other notables		Stat line
Conner Roulette	SEA		Had one big chance on Gauthier that he whiffed on.
Lukas Svejkovsky	SEA		4 shots.
Thomas Milic	SEA	23 saves-27 shots	Not much chance on any of the Portland goals.
Samuel Knazko	SEA		Didn’t have a bad game, but not a lot of impact for the Olympic bronze medalist.

Sunday vs. Seattle, 5pm

Friday vs. Tri-City, 7pm

Saturday at Everett, 6pm

Looking ahead: Friday 4/1 at Everett, 7pm

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