Back and forth it went until the literal final minute.
Hudson’s Darby goal with 1 minute to play in regulation gave the Portland Winterhawks a 4-3 win over the Everett Silvertips in Game 5 of the Western Hockey League second-round playoff series on Friday night at Angel of the Winds Arena.
The Winterhawks take a 3-2 series lead back to Portland and could bounce the No. 1-seed Silvertips with a victory in Game 6 on Saturday at Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
Everett, which won the first two games of the series in its building, has not had a lead in a game since scoring the overtime winner of Game 2.
Kyle Chyzowski had a two-goal game for Portland, both times giving the Winterhawks the lead back after the Silvertips had tied the game. His first goal at 14:10 into the second period gave Portland a 2-1 lead.
Everett’s Kaden Hammell, a Seattle Kraken prospect, scored about two minutes later to tie the game at 2-2.
It only took 30 seconds into the third period for Chyzowski to put Portland out in front again with his second goal. It was his 10th goal of these playoffs.
But again, Everett would match to make it 3-3 on a goal by Julius Miettinen, another Kraken prospect.
As time was winding down, Tyson Jugnauth fired the puck as he stood on the blue line next to the boards and Darby was about to direct the puck under the crossbar for what proved to be the winner with exactly 1 minute to play.
Josh Zakreski, who had the game-winning goal for Portland in overtime of Game 4, opened the scoring with a power-play goal in the first period. Everett then answered with its own power-play goal in the first.
Portland goalie Ondrej Štěbeták made 36 saves on 39 shots, while Everett’s Raiden LeGall had 32 saves on 36 shots.
Up next
The team buses head back south on Interstate 5 to play Game 6 at Portland on Saturday. Puck drop is 6 p.m. and the game can be streamed live on the Victory+ app. Tickets are available by going to Winterhawks.com.
