Portland ends T-Birds’ streak at 4

The Portland Winterhawks defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-2 Saturday night at ShoWare Center to end the Thunderbirds’ four-game win streak.

The Thunderbirds next play Victoria at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at ShoWare.

The Thunderbirds (16-14-1-0) took the lead 2:23 into the first period off Jesse Forsberg’s slap shot from the slot. Connor Honey moved the puck up to Shea Theodore on the blue line who lifted a pass across the ice to Forsberg. He had room to skate into the slot and ripped a slapper low past Portland netminder Mac Carruth for his third goal of the season.

Portland(24-5-1-0) tied the game 1-1 on a 5-on-3 power-play goal from Ty Rattie. Brendan Leipsic and Seth Jones had the assists on the goal coming at 5:45 of the period.

The Winterhawks then took the lead on Preston Kopeck’s goal at 13:42. Taylor Leier and Troy Rutkowski had the assists on the goal.

Shots in the first period were 13-10 in favor of Portland.

The Winterhawks scored two goals in the first two minutes of the second period to take a 4-1 lead. Their first came just 21seconds in when Leipsic tipped a shot past Seattle goalie Brandon Glover. Derrick Pouliot and Nicolas Petan had the assists.

Portland’s fourth goal of the game came at 1:21 of the second when Petan scored from the front of the net. Rattie and Leipsic were credited with the assists.

Seattle got one back on a shorthanded goal by Connor Sanvido. Theodore moved the puck to Jerret Smith in the neutral zone who found Sanvido skating up the middle for a breakaway. He split the Portland defense and fired a shot high past Carruth’s blocker to cut the lead to 4-2 Portland at 14:55 of the second.

Shots in the second period were 13-12 in favor of the Thunderbirds, with the two-period total 25-23 Portland.

Portland added two more goals in the third period to close out the game. Adam De Champlain scored 3:00 in on a breakaway chance to make it 5-2 Portland. Tyler Wotherspoon and Carruth had the assists on the play.

The final goal came when Kopeck notched his second of the night for Portland at 5:39 of the period. Peters and Jones had the assists to take the final score to 6-2.

Shots in the third were 16-13 in favor of Portland, and finished 41-37 Winterhawks.

Carruth stopped 39 shots for Portland to push his record to 13-2-0-0, while Glover’s 35 saves sees his record stand at 15-11-1-0 on the season.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2012-13 season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds season tickets are on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Forsberg 3 (Theodore, Honey), 2:23. 2, Portland, Rattie 19 (Leipsic, Jones), 5:45 (pp). 3, Portland, Kopeck 4 (Leier, Rutkowski), 13:42. Penalties – Hickman, Sea (slashing), 1:03. Rattie, Por (slashing), 1:03. Foulk, Sea (holding), 3:56. Glover, Sea (delay of game), 5:27. Sheen, Sea (slashing), 15:28.

Second period – 4, Portland, Leipsic 21 (Pouliot, Petan), :21. 5. Portland, Petan 18 (Rattie, Leipsic), 1:21. 6, Seattle, Sanvido 8 (Smith, Theodore), 14:55 (sh). Penalties – Vorobev, Por (roughing), 4:22. Wray, Sea (roughing), 4:22. Sheen, Sea (slashing), 5:28. Leier, Por (roughing), 8:18. Peters, Por (tripping), 8:40. Honey, Sea (elbowing), 13:23.

Third period – 7, Portland, De Champlain 5 (Wotherspoon, Carruth), 3:00. 8, Portland, Kopeck 5 (Peters, Jones), 5:39. Penalties – Wardley, Sea (roughing), 13:38. De Champlain, Por (tripping), 17:34. Elliot, Sea (cross-check), 20:00.

Shots on goal – Seattle 10-13-14 37, Portland 13-12-16 41. Goalies – Seattle, Glover 41 shots-35 saves (15-11-1-0); Portland, Carruth 37-35 (13-2-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Portland 1-6. A – 4,015. Referee – Adam Griffiths, Sean Raphael. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Kevin Boris.