Thunderbirds
Game 8: Winning streak ends as the Birds lose in overtime to the Hitmen
(4-4) Calgary Hitmen 3, (5-2-1) Seattle Thunderbirds 2 (OT)
Dillon with two assists, Seattle has at least one point in last five games
KENT–The Thunderbirds four game winning streak is over but they still earn a point as they are defeated by the Calgary Hitmen 3-2 in overtime. The Birds found themselves behind early once again in their first home game in two weeks as some sloppy play in front of their net allowed Calgary’s Cody Beach to put his team up 1-0 at the 6:45 mark of the first period. At the 12:22 mark Brenden Dillon and Ben Wilson dropped the gloves but the dance was much longer than the fight. The Hitmen were rewarded the first power play of the game but did not convert and shortly thereafter the Birds had their first opportunity. Charles Wells got the Birds even at 1-1 just as the penalty expired with an assist from Dillon and Brendan Rouse. The tying goal was scored at 18:46. The shots in the period were 11-9 in favor of the Birds. Probably not the strong first period the Birds were looking for as they spent too much time in their own end and couldn’t put much pressure on a young Calgary defense and back-up goalie Juraj Holly (1-2).
Not much offense from either team early in the second period as they had a combined six shots in the first ten minutes. The Birds went on the power play at 10:45 of the second but could not take advantage. They would get yet another opportunity at the 14:47 mark and Tyler Alos scored his first goal of the season to give the Birds their first lead of the night 2-1. There were assists from Dillon and Marcel Noebels. Just moments later Jacob Doty and Beach went at it with Doty knocking Beach to the ground. Dave Sutter took a penalty at 18:17 giving Calgary a late power play chance. A bad bounce off the boards allowed Justin Kirsch to put one past Calvin Pickard (5-2-1) to tie the game at 2-2. Once again the Birds seem to turn on the jets again about halfway through the game and end up with a better effort in the second period. Shots were 19-18 Birds after two. Travis Bobbee had to leave the game with some kind of injury.
The Birds went on the power play at 3:20 of the third when Wells was tripped but they did not convert. As in the first period the Birds had some trouble getting the puck out of their own end on several shifts and through the first 10 minutes of the the third the game remained tied mostly because of a few dazzling saves by Pickard. As the case has been recently with the Birds the game went down to the wire with the teams tied 2-2 and once again regulation time was not enough to decide the game.
At 1:18 into OT Noebels was able to draw a penalty and the Birds had a four on three power play. The Birds could only get one shot on net and then took a penalty of their own to put Calgary on the power play. Calgary took advantage and put in the game winner at 3:27 of the overtime. Jaynen Rissling scored the game winner.
This game could go under the “You can’t win them all” heading. Well you certainly can’t win them all in post regulation play and the Birds have been living there lately. When asked about the Birds penchant for playing white knuckle, stomach churning games, Head Coach Rob Sumner responded, “We’ve played good teams, they want to win, we want to win, I think it’s great that we’ve learned how to play in tight games. Most of the time we have to be prepared for tight games.”
Even though it wasn’t a great start for the Birds Sumner wasn’t putting the blame on his team,”We were ready to play, our legs were moving. I have to give credit to Calgary rather than take it away from us, they were strong on the puck. We got better as the game went on especially in the second half of the second period and in the the third.”
D Scott Ramsay wasn’t in the lineup after playing last night. “I thought it was a tough pace last night, I knew it would be again tonight. To throw a guy in back to back after (the injury) I thought I would give him one game and get back at it this week at practice.” F Connor Sanvido was in after sitting out a few games and when asked about his performance Sumner said, “I thought he gave us some good shifts early, I put him on right wing later, he’s a young guy and has to bear down on the wall, get pucks out, but it’s good experience for him.” Noebels had a strong game including drawing a penalty in overtime and Sumner agreed, “Noebels was excellent. He was strong on the puck, and I was very happy with his performance.”
So while the winning streak may be over the Birds got three out of four points on the weekend and have now earned nine out of ten points in their last five games. As they headed off the ice they certainly weren’t happy about letting that tenth point slip by, which in itself is an encouraging sign.
Seattle will travel to Portland to take on the formidable Winterhawks on Friday at 7 pm.
Game notes
– D Brenden Dillon played a ton of minutes in tonight’s game. Most likely due to a lineup without D Scott Ramsay and D Travis Bobbee for the second half of the game.
– The Thunderbirds have now gone past regulation play in four of their last five games.
-The Birds are now 2-0-1 at home.
– Attendance was announced as 5,473.
Scoring Summary
1st Period-1, Calgary, Beach 3 (Foucault), 6:45. 2, Seattle, Wells 2 (Rouse, Dillon), 18:46. Penalties-Beach Cal (inter. on goaltender), 8:54; Alos Sea (holding), 8:54; Sylvester Cal (roughing), 11:35; Wells Sea (roughing), 11:35; Wilson Cal (major-fighting), 12:22; Dillon Sea (major-fighting), 12:22; Wells Sea (high sticking), 14:32; Lawrence Cal (holding), 16:44.
2nd Period-3, Seattle, Alos 1 (Dillon, Noebels), 15:41 (PP). 4, Calgary, Kirsch 4 (MacKenzie), 19:33 (PP). Penalties-Schmidt Cal (slashing), 10:45; MacKenzie Cal (roughing), 14:47; Beach Cal (major-fighting), 16:40; Doty Sea (major-fighting), 16:40; Sutter Sea (hooking), 18:17.
3rd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Fisenko Cal (tripping), 3:20.
OT Period-5, Calgary, Rissling 1 3:27 (PP). Penalties-Rissling Cal (tripping), 1:18; Lockhart Sea (slashing), 2:59.
Shots on Goal-Calgary 9-9-12-1-31. Seattle 11-8-14-2-35.
Power Play Opportunities-Calgary 2 / 2; Seattle 1 / 5.
Goalies-Calgary, Holly 1-2-0-0 (35 shots-33 saves). Seattle, Pickard 5-2-1-0 (31 shots-28 saves).
A-5,473
Referees-Brett Iverson (24), Chris Crich (80).
Linesmen-Chris Carlson (92), Adam Brastad (132).
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