Seattle vs. Portland Recap

Seattle drops Portland tonight 7-1 and take care of business against a bad team on home ice. I wanted badly to give Portland a little credit for playing better lately but tonight's game leaves me no room for anything other than criticism. Portland was flat outplayed, outworked and just seemed not to care about the outcome of the game after falling behind in the first period.

I can't remember seeing a Seattle game where a Tbird player skated around defencemen and onto goal as many times as I did tonight. Portland either needs to dramatically improve their skating OR they simply didn't care tonight.

Kurtis Mucha, I believe, is a fine goaltender who is stuck in a bad situation and simply had a poor night tonight.

Seattle got on the board with a goal by Ian Mckenzie only 2:23 into the 1st period. Mac scores for the second night in a row.

Travis Ehrhardt tied the game at 1-1 at the 10:15 mark of the 1st, but it didn't last long as Lindsey Nielsen scored into an open net as Mucha mishandled a clearing attempt.

Bud Holloway cashed in a Power Play by banking home a shot from the sharp angle through the legs of Mucha who to that point had only stopped 5 of the 8 Seattle shots.

Seattle then took a 4-1 one and eventually chased Mucha on a nice helper from Josh Schappert to David Richard with just under a minute to play in the 1st. Mucha did not return after the 1st intermission having stopped 6 of 10 Tbird shots.

Jordan White took his time getting antiquated with the hockey game as he was beaten by Jim O'Brien on the first shot of the 2nd period. O'Brien beat White over the glove side with a slapper. It must be very difficult to come into a game ice cold after sitting on the bench for a period and White showed the effects.

Brenden Dillon then scored his 1st career WHL goal converting a Power Play goal with a slapper to give Seattle a 6-1 lead. Dillon's shot also beat White high on the glove side.

Prab Rai "finally" scored this season... haha giving Seattle a 7-1 lead with under 2 minutes to play in the 2nd frame. Rai simple took the puck in the Seattle side of the center line and used his speed to outskate the Portland defence down the left side before ripping a wrister off the post and into the net over White's glove side again. Prab now has 1 goal to go with his team leading 19 assists.

On a short side note... can you believe how little we gave up to get this guy? How did he not stick in PG???

White actually settled down nicely to post a very solid 3rd period and the game ended 7-1 for Seattle. White ended stopping 24/27 shots while Mucha took the loss. Jacob DeSerres was lost in the barrage of scoring but stopped 24/25 for the win and improved to 6-3.

Seattle looks for the 3 in 3 weekend tomorrow evening as they play host to the Chilliwack Bruins.

Let's Go Birds Blog Three Stars of the Game:

1. Prab Rai - This is more for the season effort but Prab collects another 2 assists and finally gets his first goal.

2. David Richard - Nice to see Richy collect three points including a goal off a nice feed from Schappert.

3. Benn Olsen - Olsen is a +3 for the second night in a row, including some PP work and a fight in the 3rd. Gotta give the big man some props.

Honorable Mention - Brenden Dillon, 1st WHL goal. Jordan White, 24/27 saves in a tough spot off the bench. Jacob DeSerres, lost in the mix but solid for the win. Ian McKenzie, for getting Seattle off the fast start for the 2nd night in a row. O'Brien, Boyer... etc... the whole team played well.

In the Arena:

1. David Richard
2. Prab Rai
3. Brenden Dillon