THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds claw back to beat the Prince George Cougars 3-2

Dec 9, 2016, 10:57 PM

Facing the top team in the B.C. Division in Prince George Friday night, the Seattle Thunderbirds did not want a repeat of the effort Wednesday night.

Seattle washed away the bad taste of the loss Wednesday night in Kelowna with a solid 3-2 win over the Prince George Cougars at the CN Centre.

The T-Birds fell behind early but came back to score the game’s final two goals and shut down the Cougars in the third period. Donovan Neuls got the game-winner in the third after Keegan Kolesar tied it in the second. Goalie Rylan Toth kept the T-Birds even in the second period on his way to make 25 saves to get the win.

“We kept playing,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “When you start the game right you feel good about yourself. We started the game right and we keep playing and gave ourselves a chance to win.”

Despite an early push by Seattle, the T-Birds found themselves behind after Jesse Gabrielle got the Cougars an early goal on a short-handed breakaway. That goal went against the flow of the game a the T-Birds had taken the first five shots of the contest.

“I thought we started the game real well despite giving up that short-handed goal,” Konowalchuk said. “We came out, were ready to go and had some chances.”

Seattle (16-10-2-1) didn’t let that goal against stop it and kept pushing. Sami Moilanen would tie the game at one on his eighth of the season as he blasted a rebound from the right of Cougars’ goalie Ty Edmonds.

Prince George (21-8-2-0) would take the lead just before the first period ended however when Yan Khomenko knocked home a loose puck in front of Toth. It was the former Everett Silvertips’ ninth of the year and gave the Cougars the lead at the first intermission.

Kolesar would tie the game early in the second with a wrist shot off the rush for his second of the year. With the score tied, Toth played some of his best hockey of the night, making 12 saves in the period, several of which were from close range.

“When it’s 2-1 it’s very important that he buckled down there and he did,” Konowalchuk said of his goaltender. “He gave us a chance to win and he was solid all game.”

The T-Birds took the lead early in the third when Kolesar helped set up Neuls for the game-winner. Edmonds got trapped behind the net and had to scramble in front but it was too late as Neuls was in position to tap home a pass from Alexander True.

Kolesar got the second assist for a two-point night, the first of the year for the big winger. After starting slow due to injury, Konowalchuk says its time for the Columbus Blue Jackets prospect to get his game going.

“I’ve talked to him about it,” Konowalchuk said. “He’s had enough games, its time for him to go. I’ve seen spurts and good games out of him, he needs to be consistent and its time for him to go.”

It wasn’t just Kolesar who got going in the third period.

It took a couple of periods, but the T-Birds got back to playing the kind of desperate hockey Konowalchuk wants them to play. They pressured the Cougars up and down the ice, got into shot lanes and blocked shots. Something that they didn’t do much of Wednesday night in Kelowna.

“It had to be addressed during the game which shouldn’t be at this stage after a loss,” the coach said. “But, in the third period they really buckled down with some huge blocked shots.”

Prince George pushed for the equalizer and even were given two power-play chances in the second half of the period. The T-Birds killed them off with an aggressive penalty kill and ended up out shooting Prince George 10-5 in the final 20 minutes of the game.

“That team was pushing but we made it hard for them to get good clean looks in the third period,” Konowalchuk said.

Friday was a big win against a good team on the road and the T-Birds will get another test as they will stay in Prince George to face the Cougars again on Saturday. They’ll have to do that without star Mathew Barzal who played his last game Friday before heading out to Team Canada’s World Junior camp.

Konowalchuk feels that his team is deep enough to withstand the loss of Barzal over the remainder of December.

“Obviously we’re better off with him, anybody would be, but we won games without him,” he said of losing Barzal. “We were playing some pretty good fast paced hockey without him. We should still be a confident bunch.”

Notes

• Scott Eansor’s line, whith Moilanen and Nolan Volcan, did not play well on Wednesday. They rebounded nicely and were one of the T-Birds best lines Friday. They were all over the Cougars and chipped in a goal with Moilanen scoring. “Eansor’s line played a real good game today” Konowalchuk said. “You don’t have to say much. What are we 30 games in and they had one game I didn’t like? They’re a good line for us.”

• Expect some line juggling Saturday in the rematch as Barzal’s departure will call for changes. Konowalchuk said he liked the chemistry he saw between True and Kolesar on Friday which probably means they will be matched up.

• Going back to last year’s playoffs and regular season, the T-Birds have now won four straight games at Prince George.

• The Cougars were without defenseman Brandon Guhle on Friday. Guhle had been recalled to the NHL by the Buffalo Sabres as an emergency call up but was sent back down Friday. He is expected to play Saturday. He appeared in three games with the Sabres.

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