THUNDERBIRDS

T-Birds closing in on conference title after 3-1 win over Kelowna

Apr 27, 2016, 9:18 AM | Updated: 9:19 am

Mathew Barzal and Ethan Bear celebrate Bear's game-winning goal in the third period. (T-Birds photo)

(T-Birds photo)

KENT – After another hard-fought victory, the Thunderbirds find themselves one win away from playing for the WHL Championship.

With Game 3 tied at one after two periods, Seattle wasted no time in striking early in the third to go ahead for good. Ethan Bear took a pass from Mathew Barzal above the face-off circle and fired a wrist shot that beat Kelowna goalie Michael Herringer to give Seattle a 2-1 lead.

With that lead, the T-Birds leaned on goalie Landon Bow to hold off the charging Rockets long enough for Barzal to score on the empty net and seal a 3-1 win for Seattle. The T-Birds take a choke hold on the best-of-seven series with a 3-0 lead and can close it out on Wednesday night.

“It’s tough games; no doubt about it,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “Momentum goes one way and then it goes the other way. Each team pushes back. It’s good to be on this side of it.”

The Rockets, desperate to get back into the series, didn’t make life easy for Seattle. They out-shot the T-Birds 37-33 on the night and might have won the game and if not for Bow’s 36 stops.

“To me, that was definitely the most we needed him in a hockey game,” Konowalchuk said of Bow. “That third period, he made some real big saves for us.”

Like they have in all three games of the series, the T-Birds opened the scoring on the power play. Bryan Allbee, playing in his first game of the series, got Seattle up with a slap-shot from the point.

It was one of five T-Birds power plays in the first period, and while they only hit on one, they got some early momentum.

“I think if we don’t get one after having five there, then it’s a missed opportunity,” Konowalchuk said. “But we got one. Overall, I liked the execution.”

For Allbee, it was a big moment as he stood in and actually played some forward on Tuesday.

“It’s nice to get in the lineup,” he said. “I got an opportunity today … luckily, I found the back of the net.”

Seattle needed that goal as the Rockets came out flying in the second period. They pushed Seattle’s defense and got the game square when Justin Kirkland swept in and got a back-hand shot past Bow.

The T-Birds managed to get some momentum back at the end of the period and it carried over early into the third. Fifty-eight seconds into the final frame, Bear fired his shot that would turn out to be the game-winner.

Kelowna was one of the highest-scoring teams in the league but has been held to only four goals in the three games.

“You look to their defense,” Rockets coach Brad Ralph said of the T-Birds. “They’re very physical. They’re making our lives very difficult in their zone. They’re allowed to do what they want out there right now.”

Late in the game, the Rockets had a chance after a delay-of-game call on Scott Eansor. Ralph pulled his goaltender to make it a six-on-four power play, but Barzal won the race to a loose puck, got down the ice and potted one in the empty net.

So now the T-Birds are one game away from a place they have not been since 1997. That year, the T-Birds made their first and lone appearance in the WHL Finals, only to be swept by Lethbridge. While the excitement of clinching at home is there, the players aren’t taking their foot off the gas just yet.

“I think our whole team has put in a good effort,” Bow said. “We’re not close to done yet, but we’ve got to make sure that we take it day-by-day.”

Game 4 is Wednesday night at 7.

Notes

• Kelowna was again without its captain, Rodney Southam, who was serving the final game in his two-game suspension for a hit on Cavin Leth in Game 1. Leth has yet to return to Seattle’s lineup, but Southam will be back for the Rockets in Game 4.

• Barzal now has goals in each of the first three games of this series. Tuesday night he assisted on Bear’s goal for his first helper in the series. He has five goals and 16 points so far in the 11 playoff games the team has played.

• Rockets goalie Michael Herringer played well on Tuesday and seemed to show no ill effects of the fluke goal allowed at the end of Game 2. He made 30 saves on the night. Early on, he made a desperate save on Nick Holowko on Seattle’s first power play that helped keep Kelowna in it.

• In the Eastern Conference, the Red Deer Rebels beat the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-2 to get on the board in their series. The Wheat Kings lead the series 2 games to 1.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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