Thunder Bay, ON- Icing the same lineup that shutout the defending CCHL Cup champs on Monday, the Timberwolves could not overcome an early thumping from the Portland Owls on Wednesday.
>>>The visiting Owls took a 3-0 lead after the first period and added a fourth half way through the second without any response from the unbeaten Wolves.
>>>"To put it lightly, we came out flat," said Thunder Bay centre, Marc Savard. "To put it bluntly, we played like complete sh**."
>>>All was not lost and with a little less than half a game remaining, the Timberwolves awoke with a thunderous point shot from Erik Johnson (pictured). The Bloomington, Minnesota-native's first goal in more than eighteen plus months.
>>>Marian Gaborik cut the Portland lead in half with his eighth of the season at 16:52 in the second. Mike Fisher drew the home team within one at 18:39 to make things intersting going into the final period.
>>>In the third period, the weary Owls played a trap game early. But the nifty Gaborik snuck in deep and recieved a feed from Johnson and beat Ty Conklin to tie things up at 9:37.
>>>But two minutes and two seconds later, Portland took advantage of a poor shift change by the Timberwolves and Joel Ward made it 5-4. That would end up being enough and Thunder Bay suffered their first loss of the season.
>>>"We simply gave up too much without countering," said interim head coach, Ryan McGill. "We showed alot of resilience to even things out. The offense is here. No doubt. But we have to show up early and be more prepared. As the coach, that's my job and we'll be ready the next game."
>>>The Timberwolves next game is Friday against the Karlstad Killers at the Canadian National Gardens. The Killers are coming off a 6-4 loss against the Havana Moon.
>>>
>>>3-STARS
>>>
>>>*Ryan Kesler (POR) - 2 goals and an assist
>>**Erik Johnson (THU) - 1 goal and 2 assists
>***Paul Martin (POR) - 3 assists and a +3
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