T-Birds comeback in Spokane – Seattle Thunderbirds

Spokane, WA. – Conner Roulette scored twice, including the game winner, and the Seattle Thunderbirds came in from behind to score a 5-3 win over the Spokane Chiefs in Spokane on Friday night. The win was the fourth in four T-birds games against Spokane that season. The Thunderbirds will return home to the accesso ShoWare Center on Saturday. The T-birds house the Kamloops Blazers. Play time is 6:05 p.m.

It was the first time in four attempts this season, Seattle (11-3-1-0) trailing behind the second period and returning with a win. Head coach Matt O’Dette called it a brave attempt. “Great gain in character. I’m really proud of the guys for sticking with it. ”He said they overcame some second period problems in order to do so. “I thought our first period was excellent. This is how we have to play, this is our blueprint. The second period started on the wrong foot. We didn’t do a few things in the first period that got us going, but the guys buckled up in the third period and did it. “

It took only 15 seconds in the opening phase for Seattle to find the back of the web. Roulette scored its seventh goal of the season, throwing a pass from Lucas Ciona, who was stationed behind the Spokane network, centered home. Jordan Gustafson had the second assist. The Thunderbirds dominated the first third, overtook the Chiefs 19: 3 and went into the first break with a goal in front.

Spokane goalkeeper Mason Beaupit held the T-Birds with 18 saves, allowing his team to take the lead with three goals in the second period. The three goals were scored over a period of four and a half minutes. Carter Streek scored the first goal with 3:54. Luke Toporowski followed at 8:09 am and 15 seconds later Braden Plaschewsky gave the Chiefs a 3-1 lead. A couple of those goals came from weird jumps, but Seattle goalkeeper Scott Ratzlaff shook them off and shut out the Chiefs (3-8-2-0) for the rest of the way. “I knew that I had a good team ahead of me and was very grateful that they fought back. There was still a lot of play left so I just had to keep going. “

Seattle began its comeback at 5:41 pm of the second period when Henrik Rybinski won an offensive face off to Beaupit’s left. He pushed the puck back at Jared Davidson, who fired a shot from the top of the left circle and hit Beaupit cleanly. It was Davidson’s fourth goal in his last seven games. A short time later, the T-Birds lost Rybinski due to an injury. He wasn’t going back to the game.

The Thunderbirds were tied 6:47 in the third period when Sam Popowich deflected Kevin Korchinski’s shot from the left. Gustafson had the second template. For Popowich it was his second goal of the season. “It was just a good game by Gussy to get Korch up. He got it on the net well. I got a stick up front and a good tip and we went in. “

Seattle has been able to bring posts up and down so far this season and it was Popowich’s turn to score the big goal on Friday night. “I think that’s the nice thing about our team. It doesn’t matter if Rybby goes down tonight. Someone else can rise and every night it’s someone new. “

The T-Birds finally took the lead when roulette scored a goal seven minutes from time in the game’s sixth and final power play in Seattle. Gustafson got his third assist and Korchinski his second. The T-Birds held Spokane in place and Ciona added an empty goal with no assist eight seconds from time to end the hit.

Tickets for tomorrow’s home game are available online at seattlethunderbirds.com. There is a 50/50 guaranteed jackpot of $ 5,000 provided by the Thunderbirds Community Sports Foundation.

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

Connor Martin was a Seattle Thunderbird for the first time. He served as the backup goalkeeper. Martin was taken over by the Victoria Royals on November 4th in exchange for an eight-round pick in the 2022 WHL Prospects Draft.

Rybinski’s assist at Davidson’s goal extended his streak to ten games. There was no post-game update on his injury and his status for Saturday’s home game was unknown.

The Thunderbirds are in the middle of three games in three nights this weekend. After tomorrow’s home game against Kamloops, head north to Everett Sunday for a game against the Everett Silvertips at Angel of the Winds Arena.