Two goals 30 seconds apart in the third period kept the Portland Winterhawks season alive for another playoff series.
Hudson Darby scored the game-tying goal and Kyle McDonough followed with the go-ahead goal nearing the mid-point of the third period and the Winterhawks went on to beat the Everett Silvertips 4-2 in Game 7 of the Western Hockey League second-round playoffs on Tuesday.
Diego Buttazzoni added a power-play empty netter with 15.2 seconds to play, sending the 5,626 fans at Angel of the Winds Arena left to ponder what might have been for the WHL regular-season champion Silvertips.
Portland, the No. 5 seed and winners of two Game 7s in these playoffs, moves on to the WHL Western Conference finals for the second season in a row and will play the Spokane Chiefs.
The Chiefs, the No. 3 seed, needed double overtime Tuesday to finish off Victoria, the No. 2 seed, with a 5-4 victory for a 4-2 series win. It was the Chiefs’ second double OT win of the series.
After a scoreless first period, Everett looked to take control of the deciding game of the best-of-seven series, taking a 1-0 lead on Landon DuPont’s goal midway through the second period.
However, Portland’s Kyle Chyzowski scored his 11th goal of these playoffs on an odd-man rush with 38.4 seconds left in the period to tie it up going into the final 20 minutes.
Three minutes into the third, Everett took control again with a goal by Lukas Kaplan, who skated across the blue line and let go a wrister that got past Portland goalie Ondrej Štěbeták.
It seemed as if Everett had all it needed when Darby got the deflection he needed after he lifted the puck from the corner that somehow got by a couple of Silvertip defenders and then goalie Raiden LeGall to tie the game at 2-2.
Then it was McDonough’s turn. Josh Zakreski took a shot on goal and McDonough was in front to collect the rebound and score to let the air out of the Everett arena as the Winterhawks celebrated their first lead of the game.
Everett was stung by a too-many-men-on-the-ice penalty with 1:27 to play so when LeGall was pulled for an extra attacker it was back to five-on-five. The Silvertips were able to get one last faceoff in their offensive zone, but Buttazzoni stole the puck and fired it up the ice into the empty net.
Štěbeták finished with 40 saves on 42 shots for Portland. Everett out shot Portland 42-33 but was 0 for 3 on the power play.
Up next
The Western Conference finals will begin at Spokane Arena with Games 1 and 2 set for Friday and Sunday. Portland will host Games 3 and 4 on April 30 and May 1, and if necessary, Game 5 on May 3. Games 6 and 7, if necessary, are back in Spokane on May 5 and May 8. The Chiefs were 3-2 against the Winterhawks in the regular season.
