THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds use late second-period rally to take 1-0 series lead over Kelowna

Apr 23, 2016, 9:19 AM | Updated: 7:36 pm

KELOWNA, British Columbia – After being on their heels early, the Seattle Thunderbirds found their balance and struck quickly.

In the second period, the play had been turning towards the Rockets until Seattle goalie Landon Bow was run over by Kelowna’s Tyson Baillie late in the period to give the T-Birds a power play.

The T-Birds responded with two quick goals before the period ended to change the momentum and held on to beat the Rockets 2-1 at Prospera Place in front of 5,562 fans. The T-Birds took a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference Championship with the victory.

“It’s a tough place to play but our guys battled hard and you have to fight for every inch,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “I thought we did that. We were fortunate. They’re a good team and we need to get real focused for tomorrow.”

It was Barzal on the power play first. He walked the puck off the half-boards and fired a top-shelf, corner shot that beat Kelowna goalie Michael Herringer cleanly. Scott Eansor followed suit shortly after by spinning and throwing a puck on net that hit a player and rebounded into the Rockets’ goal.

Just like that, Seattle had a 2-0 lead.

“Credit to them,” Barzal said. “They came out real hard there and pushed the pace. Bow made some huge saves there, kind of kept us in it. Two quick goals there, kind of stopped that momentum and put it in our favor.”

Coming into the series, the T-Birds had struggled on the power play. They had the lowest percentage of all the teams in the postseason at only 4 for 31. With Ryan Gropp back in the lineup and a week to work on it, the T-Birds’ power play provided them with the biggest moment of the night.

“We had that unit together all year and now we missed him there for a bit,” Konowalchuk said of Gropp and the reunited power play.

The T-Birds ended Friday 1 for 3 with the man advantage.

Kelowna had a chance to get back into the game in the third period when the Rockets went on a power play of their own with 9:17 left. A goal cut the lead and give them a shot to make a comeback.

That chance was short-lived, however, as Rockets captain Rodney Southam hit Seattle’s Cavin Leth high and along the boards. Leth struggled to get up and was in pain while Southam was given a major penalty for checking to the head as well as a game misconduct.

It erased the Rockets’ power play and essentially ended any chance of them getting back into the contest despite a late goal scored by Rourke Chartier.

Chartier was matched up with Barzal for most of the night in what was a super competitive battle between two players who are friends off the ice.

“I’ve always embraced that throughout my career,” Chartier said of the matchup. “He’s obviously a great player and you have to keep an eye on him. He can turn a D around on a dime.”

Early on, the matchup was tilted a bit in Kelowna and Chartier’s favor. They were creating turnovers on the Barzal line and getting more of the chances. Barzal and company kept fighting, however, and evened things out as the game wore on.

“He kind of schooled me in the first period,” Barzal said. “I thought my line bounced back in the second and third period. Got on the power play and got a little bit more comfortable, but he’s a special player.”

Friday saw another strong effort from the Eansor, Donovan Neuls and Nolan Volcan line. They pushed the pace and created havoc in the Kelowna zone.

They got rewarded as Eansor scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal.

“We scored a big goal,” Eansor said. “Matty scored a big goal on the power play there and then our line just came out buzzing. We weren’t happy with one.”

The win gives the T-Birds home ice-advantage moving forward and they have a chance to put more pressure on the home-standing Rockets on Saturday night.

“Anytime we can get a win in this building, no doubt about it,” Konowalchuk said about how big of a win Friday was. “They’re a good hockey team and they’re really good here.”

Game 2 will be at 7 at the Prospera Place in Kelowna.

Notes

• Leth did not return to the game after taking the hit in the third period. Afterwards, Konowalchuk did not have an update as to his condition.

• Southam, Kelowna’s captain, will most likely be looking at supplementary discipline from the league and could be looking at a suspension of some sort.

• Bow was strong early for Seattle, making big saves to keep the Rockets at bay. He ended the night with 23 saves and came 22 seconds short of his third shutout of the post season.

• After struggling with the puck early in the game, the T-Birds turned it around and ended up out-shooting the Rockets 28-19 over the final 40 minutes.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide

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