T-Birds Drop Back and Forth Battle to Portland – Seattle Thunderbirds

Kent, Washington. – The Seattle Thunderbirds couldn’t hold onto their late lead and lost a 6-5 shootout to the Portland Winterhawks at the accesso ShoWare Center on Saturday. Jordan Gustafson led Seattle’s attack with two goals in the loss. The Thunderbirds round out the weekend action with a Sunday game in Everett at Angel of the Winds Arena. Game time is 4:05 p.m

On Teddy Bear Toss Night, it was Lucas Ciona who blew up the Bears and redirected a Kevin Korchinski shot with Seattle on the power play. Conner Roulette had the second assist for the goal that came at 15:46 of the first period.

Seattle (23-10-4-1) built a three-goal lead early in the second period with two goals 29 seconds apart. Gustafson’s first came at 3:07 and Henrik Rybinski jammed home his 13th of the season at 3:36.

For Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette, playing the middlegame of three nights out of three, it was the start he wanted his team to get. “We played properly, we stuck to the game plan, it was really good. Things were going well for us.” He said they pressed for large parts of the game but just not enough. “There were some bugs here and there that breathed life into them. Some penalties at inconvenient times.”

Portland started their comeback with a power play goal by Jack O’Brien at 8:04. The Winterhawks then made it a one-goal game at 1:50 p.m. when Josh Zakreski scored.

Early in the third period, Portland earned the first tie of the game when Kyle Chyzowski scored at 2:05. The T-Birds jumped back to the top as Sam Popowich scored his fourth win of the season at 3:53. The Winterhawks leveled 4-4 thanks to a power play goal by Tyson Kozak at 7:30 a.m.

The Winterhawks finished the night 2-for-5 with man advantage. “We have to avoid giving them those powerplay opportunities,” O’Dette said, adding, “Ultimately, we didn’t do enough to keep the gas pedal and close them. We breathed some life into them here and there throughout the game.” He said it was another lesson that it takes sixty minutes to shut down a good team. “Every piece counts. You don’t know what the difference in the game will be.”

The T-Birds reacted quickly to Kozak’s goal and took the lead just 46 seconds later with Gustafson’s second of the night to take a 5-4 lead again.

Portland drew their goalie late for the extra skater and scored the fifth and equalizing goal at 18:54 from Cross Hanas. There was no goal in the five-minute overtime. Portland’s James Stefan was the only shooter to score in the shootout, giving the Winterhawks the win.

O’Dette says while the loss hurts, he still sees more good than negative over the weekend so far. “With the short line-up, just at the back end, we have guys who play a lot of minutes who aren’t used to having three points at the weekend so far is a positive.”

After Sunday’s game in Everett, the T-Birds will face BC Division opponents in the next five games. Seattle’s next home game is next Friday against Prince George. Seattle has a home-and-home game against Vancouver next weekend. They host the Giants next Saturday and then travel to Langley for the rematch the next day. The Thunderbirds are in Victoria to face the Royals in two games on February 11 and 12.

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

Conner Roulette had lost his scoring streak in four games.

Once again, the T-Birds broke the 40-shot barrier and overtook Portland 44-32.

For the third game in a row, the T-Birds decked out just 16 skaters, two under the limit. Seattle has four players in Covid Protocol (Hanzel, Oremba, Rempe and Mynio), one with a long-term injury (Bauer) and a sixth player, Sam Knazko, who is away with Team Slovakia in preparation for next month’s Winter Olympics in China.

Full box score: WHL Network