What: The Portland Winterhawks (42-20-5-3) take on the Everett Silvertips (33-34-2-1) in Game 3 of their best-of-7 Western Hockey League first round playoff series. Portland leads the series 2-0.
When: Monday, April 3, 7pm PDT.
Where: Angel of the Winds Arena, Everett, Washington.
Watch: You can stream the game via the CHL TV pay per view (US$7.56 for one game).
Listen: Winterhawks and Silvertips audio.
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The Portland Winterhawks won the first two games of the series in Portland. Friday they won a 50-50 game by a 4-3, on the strength of special teams. Game 2 they won pretty comprehensively, shutting out the Silvertips 4-0. They’re in the drivers’ set for the moment, as they not only lead the series, but clearly look like the deeper team in a series that ends with 4 games in 5 days.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 11-Robbie Fromm-Delorme (260 games) |
| 19 | 92-Jack O’Brien (208) 13-James Stefan (200) 16-Gabe Klassen (194) 9-Aidan Litke (131) 51-Chaz Lucius (6) |
| 18 | 72-Marcus Nguyen (163) 19-Kyle Chyzowski (155) 77-Luke Schelter (130) |
| 17 | 28-Josh Zakreski (85) 93-Nicholas Johnson (67) 8-Braeden Jockims (25) 20-Aiden Sotas (20) |
| 16 | 90-Diego Buttazzoni (58) 29-Hudson Darby (7) |
| 15 | 18-Kyle McDonough (8) |
Marcus Nguyen has been the top player in the series with 4 goals in 2 games. You wouldn’t have expected shutting him down to be the key for the Silvertips, but here we are.
Nguyen has a 4-game point streak. Fromm-Delorme’s is at 8 games.
Leading forwards: Klassen (70 points/66 games), Fromm-Delorme (70/67), Stefan (66/66), O’Brien (62/68), Nguyen (50/68).
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 6-Ryan McCleary (160) |
| 18 | 73-Luca Cagnoni (153) 43-Ryder Thompson (142) 26-Marek Alscher (134) 2-Josh Mori (105) |
| 17 | 59-Carter Sotheran (70) 14-Rhett Ravndahl (29) |
| 16 | 91-Alex Thompson (40) |
A great game by all 6 defensemen on Saturday.
Leading defensemen: Cagnoni (65/69), McCleary (32/68), Alscher (26/62).
| Goalies | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 74-Dante Giannuzzi (109) |
| 18 | 31-Jan Špunar (33) |
Špunar has stopped 54 of 57 shots, a .947 save percentage.
Save percentages: Giannuzzi .894, Špunar .910.
The big story for the Silvertips is how many minutes their top players are playing. What effect will it have by the end of the series?
That said, if they can pull this one out at home, they’ll be rested for Game 4 on Friday, so there’s a good path toward getting the series tied 2-2.
| Forwards | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 17-Jackson Berezowski (285) 18-Raphael Pelletier (200) |
| 19 | 29-Vincent Lamanna (84) |
| 18 | 14-Austin Roest (150) 9-Ben Hemmerling (140) 12-Caden Zaplitny (114) 10-Beau Courtney (109) 21-Oren Shtrom (106) 16-Dominik Rymon (18) |
| 17 | 13-Roan Woodward (114) 58-Kyan Grouette (62) 20-Matthew Paszkiewicz (56) 26-Andrew Petruk (51) |
| 16 | 22-Jesse Heslop (72) 11-Carter Bear (21) |
| 15 | 19-Julien Maze (7) 25-Lukas Kaplan (5) |
Berezowski and Roest were dominant in Game 1, and invisible in Game 2. And no one else on the roster has yet appeared close to being able to pick up the slack. At home, things might be different.
It’s now 10 straight games that Hemmerling has missed with injury.
Leading forwards: Berezowski (83/64), Roest (81/62), Hemmerling (62/55), Pelletier (52/67), Heslop (41/68).
| Defensemen | |
|---|---|
| 20 | 44-Aidan Sutter (191) |
| 19 | 6-Ty Gibson (158) |
| 18 | 4-Dexter Whittle (97) |
| 17 | 47-Kaden Hammell (150) 5-Eric Jamieson (79) 27-Niko Tsakumis (51) 7-Logan Greenough (14) |
| 16 | 3-Cameron Sytsma (57) 24-Tarin Smith (12) |
Sutter had a good game Saturday but didn’t get much help. They need a lot more help for him.
Leading defensemen: Sutter (40/64), Hammell (26/69), Gibson (24/68).
| Goalies | |
|---|---|
| 19 | 31-Tyler Palmer (96) |
| 17 | 35-Tim Metzger (17) |
Palmer has stopped 61 of 68 in his 2 games, a save percentage of .897.
Save percentages: Palmer .892, Metzger .888.
| Winterhawks | Silvertips | Average | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Record | 42-20-5-3 | 33-34-2-1 | |
| Goal difference | +26 | -24 | |
| Goals/game | 3.5 | 3.3 | 3.5 |
| Goals allowed/game | 3.2 | 3.6 | 3.5 |
| Power play | 24.2% | 20.9% | 22.3% |
| Penalty kill | 82.4% | 77.6% | 77.7% |
| Power plays for/game | 4.1 | 4.0 | 4.1 |
| Power plays against/game | 4.1 | 3.4 | 4.1 |
| Outshooting opponents | 50-18-2 | 35-32-3 | |
| After 1 period | 26-18-26 | 28-25-17 | |
| After 2 periods | 31-24-15 | 32-30-8 | |
| Score, last 10 games | 33-30 | 26-39 | |
| Score, last 20 games | 48-69 | 55-76 | |
| Total WHL games | 2692 | 2516 |
