Andy Eide

The Seattle Thunderbirds escaped the opener of their first-round playoff series against Prince George Friday with a bit more drama than they’d like.

The Prince George Cougars bring with them a physical group of players who will try and take away space and time on the ice from the T-Birds in their WHL playoff series.

Seattle picked up goals from three different goal scorers and Landon Bow made 29 saves to lead the T-Birds past Portland and to their 14th win in 15 games.

Landon Bow made 21 saves Friday night to lead Seattle to its ninth straight win as they shut out the Silvertips 1-0 in front of 6,046 at the ShoWare Center.

As the Thunderbirds hit the stretch run of the WHL season, they are in the driver’s seat to win their first division title under coach Steve Konowalchuk.

The T-Birds picked up their eighth straight win Sunday night as they blanked the Tri-City Americans 4-0 in Kennewick. Four different goal scorers paced Seattle and Logan Flodell notched his third shutout of the year.

Landon Bow made 40 saves and Nolan Volcan converted his shootout attempt to give the Thunderbirds a big 2-1 win in Everett on Friday, putting the two teams in a tie on top of the U.S. Division standings.

Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp each recorded hat tricks Tuesday in a 7-2 win over Tri-City. It was Seattle’s ninth win in its last 10 games as the T-Birds pulled to within one point of first place in the U.S. Division.