PORTLAND, Ore. — Any potential celebration by the Everett Silvertips will have to wait.
The Portland Winterhawks prevented the Tips from clinching their second-straight U.S. Division title as Portland topped Everett 2-0 Sunday in a Western Hockey League game before 8,263 fans at Moda Center.
“We had a sluggish start,” Everett assistant coach Mitch Love said in a post-game interview on 1380 KRKO radio. “I thought Portland was a better team in the first period and we seemed to find our legs and made a couple of adjustments, but I don’t think the adjustments were indicative of our play in the second period. I thought we came out and started to play the game, started to work and started to compete for loose puck battles, managed the puck a little bit better.”
U.S. Division-leading Everett (45-19-2-2, 95 points) saw its four-game winning streak end. Second-place Portland (43-21-1-4, 91 points) moved within four points of Everett. Both teams have three regular-season games remaining.
Everett’s magic number to clinch the division remains three points. The Tips finished the 10-game season series against Portland with a 5-5 record while the Winterhawks went 5-4-1.
Portland goaltender Cole Kehler recorded his second straight shutout against Everett as he saved all 31 Everett shots. Everett fell 3-0 at Portland on Jan. 31 when Kehler saved 21 shots.
“Kehler was real sharp tonight in net for them and made the saves he had to,” Love said. “I think we just weren’t consistent enough of getting guys in front of Kehler’s eyes and taking away those sight-lines for him. I thought his rebound control was pretty good tonight. He swallowed up pucks well and their (defensemen) did a good job of keeping our guys at bay.”
Portland took a 1-0 lead midway through the opening period and maintained it until the third.
Then Henri Jokiharju’s power-play one-timer at 13:54 in the final period pushed Portland’s lead to 2-0.
The Silvertips killed off a first-period penalty, but the Winterhawks struck for the first goal at 10:06 when Brendan De Jong’s point shot beat Everett goaltender Carter Hart for a 1-0 lead.
The score remained 1-0 through a scoreless second period as both teams had 18 shots through 40 minutes.
Portland finished with a 31-28 shot advantage and was 1-for-3 on the power play. Everett came up empty on five power-play chances.
Hart saved 26 shots in the defeat.
Everett plays at Tri-City at 7:05 p.m. Tuesday.
Winterhawks 2, Silvertips 0
Everett 0 0 0—0
Portland 1 0 1—2
1st Period—1, Portland, De Jong 5 (Kolle, Glass), 10:06. Penalties-Butt Evt (major-fighting), 5:17; MacEachern Por (major-fighting), 5:17; Fonteyne Evt (cross checking), 6:46; Ludvig Por (roughing), 13:11.
2nd Period—No Scoring.Penalties-Blichfeld Por (hooking), 14:59.
3rd Period—2, Portland, Jokiharju 10 (Glass, Cholowski), 13:54 (PP). Penalties-Bellows Por (hooking), 0:33; Mannek Por (kneeing), 4:15; Gerth Evt (slashing), 7:33; Walker Evt (delay of game), 12:58; McKenzie Por (hooking), 18:23.
Shots on Goal—Everett 8-12-8-28. Portland 11-8-12-31.
Power Play Opportunities—Everett 0/5; Portland 1/3.
Goalies—Everett, Hart 29-5-1-3 (31 shots-29 saves). Portland, Kehler 29-15-1-4 (28 shots-28 saves).
A—8,263
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