With another Seattle/Portland game tonight down in the Rose City I guess I better get something up here.
I think I am in the minority with this opinion but I really did not think the Tbirds played poorly last night. The intensity of the game was as good as I have seen in a Seattle/Portland game in a couple of seasons and the Tbirds were able to ride an early individual effort by Prab Rai, another PP rocket from Sena Acolatse, another PP goal from Charles Wells and Penalty Shot marker from "suddenly sniper" Schappert.
As we all know, that would be the last time that Seattle would score and the Winterhawks would go on to score 5 unanswered goals to take the victory 6-4.
Call me crazy but I thought this had far more to do with Portland waking up and taking the game to Seattle rather than Seattle just giving the game away. Don't get me wrong, Seattle lost the game in the first couple minutes of the third where they still had the lead and came out flat and Portland was able to tie the game on a nice shot by Niederreiter just 42 seconds into the period. With the game tied, I actually thought Seattle played with a little more sense of urgency and had a couple of moments where they threatened the Portland net and narrowly missed retaking the lead.... Aronson got his second of the night, also the second of his career to take the lead with just over 6 minutes left ans Seattle was never able to tie the game.
Couple of throw away comments....
- Officiating was terrible last night. There were bad no-calls all over the place last night and after linesman Brooks left the game for an undisclosed reason (I'm going with the dreaded "stomach issues" personally) the 3 man crew that was left seemed to be out of sorts and did not call a good game. Seattle had 3 straight PPs to start the game... and then never saw another one. I hate complaining about referees though... it isn't an excuse for losing, we just all go to the arena hoping we see a well officiated game.
- Ian Curtis isn't very good. If Portland is hoping that Curtis is their answer in net on the way to a deep playoff run, well color me skeptical.
- Calvin Pickard is awesome.... we all know he is awesome... but for the first time in a long time (I can't even remember the last time I thought this) I thought Calvin wasn't his best last night. The first goal was an awkward weird goal and he gave up 3 others (that WERE nice shots) that I would normally expect Pickard to stop and he didn't. That doesn't mean it was his fault... defense still needs to be better and Seattle played with more defensive urgency against Regina with Jahraus in net than they did last night for Pickard.
- At the start of the season I thought Portland was one of the best teams we had seen in the Western Conference.... I no longer believe that to be true and I'm really pretty confused by the moved they have made in the last couple of weeks. I can't help but wonder if they have harmed their team chemistry just a little bit trading away Bobbee, Mucha and Reddin.
Hopefully the boys won't make me look stupid on this one... but I'm going to say it right here. I think Seattle wins in Portland tonight. They have played really well on the road, they have the sour taste from the last trip to Portland and I think the gap between the two teams has narrowed considerably since the start of the season.
Hockey Challenge 2014
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14 comments :
Tyler - let's hope you are right tonight!
Well Tyler, difference of opinion here but just like the Everett game last Saturday, the T-birds stopped forechecking after they got their 3-1 lead. And when Shappert scored on the penalty shot, I got the sense they thought they had the game in the bag. From that point on they were subpar and forgot to play defense consistently. I think you're on to something with the Pickard/Jahrous thing though. I think they take Pickard for granted.
I totally agree with the second Anonymous... whomever you may be.
I'm sticking with my boys down 2-1, I think we find a way to win tonight.
I actually completely agree with you tyler, and disagree with both anonymous and mike. I thought portland got lucky last night, because they were the team who played bad. The tbirds were a different team that showed up to play everett, they weren't the team that beat regina, but for sure a better team than who came too play everett. Portland just rode the shoulders of nino niederetter ( who by the way I think is a stud) and got some lucky bounces that resulted in goals. I agree pickard was also not on top of his game, but portland struggled the whole game getting it out of there zone and I thought the forchecking of wells, nielsen, rouse, and lockart was really really good last night.
Things I noticed last night I liked....
The rouse, jacobs and lund line. A big, fast line that will start scoring goals soon. I hope they keep it together cause its really just a matter of time.
Charles wells is really really really fast.
Prab rai is a men among boys, I thought he was the best player on the ice last night hands down. When he gets going, he is very hard to stop or even slow down.
Scott ramsay is a better benn olson. I liked how he stood up for his teammates all night, and really got the crowd going with his fight. I also thought he played real well too.
Things I didn't like.....
I think its time to seperate warg and shappert, cause after them, its really downhill, I would like to see warg playing with ramsay, and shappert playing with dillon, or fleming. Dillon by the way, has to go, he is as terrible as the refs were last night.
I still don't like lockhart, but I think he's getting better, but think the tbirds should start looking away from him, unless he starts getting to the level he played last year. To me, he hasn't progressed at all.
Finnally I found my next player I cannot stand. From kyle beach too brad ross. he is a whinny little girl who dives and will do anything to get under your skin, the only difference, he isn't much of a threat (even though he scored tonight) somebody needs to lay him out, please.
Hello. And Bye.
So did we play well tonight in giving up almost 50 shots again??
No consistency parings with lines
up front. I counld'nt tell half the time who was on what line.
Power play tonight didn't have the same flow. Are we changing that group also?
You can't lose games when you are ahead 4 to 1 especially at home and with a decent crowd attended with great intensity in the building, they did it Friday and they did a few weeks back versus Tri City, great 1st period and first few minutes of the 2nd period, but after that, I think they played horrible!
Chris, with each post, your hockey IQ continues to drop. There was no luck involved in what Portland did. Hey outworked the T-birds the last two periods; two periods the T-birds took off.
Ha, really? No luck??? Did you see there 2nd, 3rd, and 4th goal? You cannot tell me that those were good goals? 2 of them trickled across the goal line, so I guess that means they out played us. They also benefitted from a horribly reffed game. I just don't think they out played us as much as people are saying. Portland struggled getting the puck out of there own end the whole game, even when they were winning. Like tyler said, portland isn't as good as they were early in the season, they are better than the birds, but u cannot tell me the team that showed up that played everett last weekend, was the team that lost too portland, Friday. They played a much better game, not saying they werent perfect for 60 minutes, but they played a way better game.
They played one period. Got a break from the officials on the penalty shot call, then phoned it from there. Portland outworked them the rest of the way. They created those scoring chances whether your think they were lucky or not. Then Portland continued it and outworked the 'Birds Saturday in Portland as well. Has the gap narrowed between the two teams? Maybe, but Portland leads the season series, 5-0. There's more than luck involved in that.
Agree to disagree guys... I think you could have easily watched that game on Friday and come away with two different but justified opinions.
Bottom line is... I think Seattle has improved while I think for whatever reason Portland is not close to as good as I thought they were earlier in the season.
I'm sure we'll be treated to several more good, heated contests.
Tyler:
The Hawks caught teams off guard earlier in the season. Thinking this was the same team from years past. However, the WHL scouts other teams and the other teams don't take Portland as lightly anymore, and have found ways to slow or contain them better. Portland is the youngest team in the league, now its the Hawks turn to adjust to the league
Brian in Sherwood
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