THUNDERBIRDS

T-Birds struggles continue in 7-1 loss to the Windsor Spitfires

May 21, 2017, 8:29 PM

Sami Moilanen attempts a wrap around against Windsor's Michael DiPietro ( Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL I...

Sami Moilanen attempts a wrap around against Windsor's Michael DiPietro ( Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL Images)

( Photo by Aaron Bell/CHL Images)

WINDSOR, Ontario – The Thunderbirds Memorial Cup malaise continued Sunday evening.

At times, Seattle looked like it had corrected the issues from Saturday but in the end, more mistakes ended up costing the Thunderbirds as they dropped a tough 7-1 decision to the host Windsor Spitfires at the WFCU Centre. The Spitfires were led by Graham Knott and Julius Nattinen, who both scored twice in the win.

“It’s not what you’d like to see,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “You wouldn’t think by looking at the scoreboard but we actually did some things I liked out there. We got closer to the way we need to be. We’ll stick with those and improve on other areas.”

Seattle nearly scored on the first shift as a Scott Eansor wrap around attempt laid inches away from the goal line before being cleared away. A goal there might have changed things but later in the period, Seattle would shoot itself in the foot.

The self-inflicted pain hurt the most during a 38 second span that saw Seattle give up three goals thanks to unforced turnovers in its own end.

“Obviously, going down 3-0 early hurts,” Seattle’s Mathew Barzal said. “You’re playing behind the eight-ball. It’s a tough loss, we’re all competitors here and you lose that badly, it stings.”

The T-Birds won the WHL Championship by playing desperate, clean hockey. In Windsor, that fire hasn’t shown up and they have been mistake prone. Those mistakes, against the caliber of teams in the tournament, have proved to be costly.

The Memorial Cup is a quick turnaround after the emotional high of winning the league title, but Konowalchuk sees no let down or hangover in his guys.

“I think guys aren’t performing to the best of their ability no doubt about it,” Konowalchuk said. “But there’s not one player in there satisfied. Some guys are gripping the sticks too tight and for various reasons we’re not playing our best…but there’s not one guy in that locker room that’s satisfied to just be here.”

Seattle is now on the ropes and will have to win its last game, on Tuesday, against the Saint John Sea Dogs to stay alive for the tie-breaker game on Thursday.

If they lose, their season will be over.

“No one is hanging their head,” Ethan Bear said. “We understand that we still have another game and it’s a short tournament. If we can bounce back, one game can give us that confidence and motivation.”

Seattle started the game with a couple of promising shifts but then the mistakes popped up.

After Knott opened the scoring for the Spitfires by deflecting in a shot past Carl Stankowski the T-Birds began giving the puck away.

It started with Bear losing it behind the net. That puck was taken by Gabriel Vilardi and centered out in front to Nattinen who scored to make it 2-0. A handful of seconds later, another turnover deep in the Seattle zone ended up on the stick of Logan Brown and he whistled a shot past Stankowski to make it 3-0.

Three goals in 38 seconds ended the night for Stankowski as he was replaced by Rylan Toth, who had not played in a game since March.

Seattle couldn’t cash in on a chance to get back into the game in the second period.

They were awarded 1:15 of a two-man advantage on the power play. They moved the puck well and created a couple of good scoring chances but couldn’t capitalize. First, it was Windsor captain Jeremiah Addison diving in front of what would have been a sure goal by Ryan Gropp. Then, goalie Michael DiPietro made two spectacular saves to keep Seattle at bay.

It was definitely a momentum changer for the Spitfires.

“You see their guy stop Gropp head first there,” Barzal said of the power play. “It kind of takes the wind out of the sails a little bit. I thought we were actually going pretty good right there, drawing penalties. Give them credit, they played a hard, tough game.”

As Barzal said, the Thunderbirds appeared to have righted their ship in the second period and started to generate some offense. They cut the lead when a Turner Ottenbreit shot rebounded to Keegan Kolesar in the slot and he buried it to make it 3-1 Windsor.

Unfortunately for Seattle, before the period could end another mix up in their own end cost them.

While killing off a Windsor penalty, Toth got caught behind his net while the puck came out front to Nattinen who buried his second goal into the wide-open net. That made it 4-1 for the home team heading into the final period.

Any chance of a Seattle comeback was stymied after the Spitfires scored on a power-play just 33 seconds into the third period. On the play, Knott tipped in a shot from Jeremy Bracco to give the Spitfires an insurmountable 5-1 lead.

The Spitfires would keep adding on with third period goals by Addison and Bracco.

Seattle will get a much-needed day off on Monday to try and regroup and prepare for a do-or-die game against the Saint John Sea Dogs on Tuesday.

“It’s a tough spot to be in but our mindset is the next game,” Eansor said. “We can win this tournament if we win the next game, there’s a chance.”

Notes

• Stankowski was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots but it’s hard to lay the blame at his skates when you consider the turnovers. Toth played the rest of the game and stopped 18 of 22 shots.

• The three Spitfires goals scored in 38 seconds tied a Memorial Cup record. The last team to pull off such a feat was the New Westminster Bruins who did it in 1978 against Trois Rivieres.

• Konowalchuk was noncommittal when asked about who would start in goal on Tuesday.

• Seattle is off on Monday but the games will continue. Saint John will take on the Erie Otters at 4 pm Pacific time.

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