THUNDERBIRDS

Victoria uses the power play to fly past T-Birds

Oct 14, 2017, 10:24 PM | Updated: 10:26 pm

KENT – It’s been two years since the Seattle Thunderbirds have been on the losing end of a contest with the Victoria Royals. That would change on Saturday night.

The Royals were in the ShoWare Center Saturday and ended a nine-game losing streak to Seattle with a 6-1 win. Matthew Phillips scored twice for Victoria (8-1-1-0) as Seattle got into penalty trouble early and Phillips made them pay.

Phillips cashed in twice on the power play in the first period to erase an early 1-0 Seattle lead and set the tone for the rest of the night. While Phillips was scoring, Victoria goalie Griffen Outhouse was sharp in making 26 saves for his seventh win on the season.

Tyler Soy also had a big night for Victoria with a goal and three assists.

“I thought early on the officiating wasn’t very good,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “We were earning some penalties and some of the calls against us were ticky-tack. We had four kills in the first, I thought we out played them but then we end up chasing the game from there.”

Seattle (4-3-0-1) out shot the Royals 6-2 over the first ten minutes and had a 1-0 lead but then the penalties started getting called. Both of Phillips’ conversions came on similar back-door plays where he was left all alone at the side of the net.

Victoria ended the night 3-for-8 with the man advantage.

“We know their power play likes the seam plays and the back-door plays and we were fully aware that’s what they like,” O’Dette said of the early power-play scores. “We didn’t do a good enough job to take those away. I thought a couple of times we got over-extended and that opens up the seam plays.”

While playing five-on-five, the Thunderbirds did get good looks and ended the night out-shooting Victoria 32-30.

They were generating puck possession and chances, but couldn’t solve Outhouse.

“I think their goalie played well but we’re just not capitalizing on our scoring chances,” O’Dette said. “We don’t have a lot of natural scorers, we have to get our scoring off of hard work. When it’s time to put the puck in the net, we’re not finding a home. We’re working on it every day.”

Nolan Volcan would cap off the strong start for Seattle at 6:17 of the first period when he converted a centering pass from Sami Moilanen on a two-on-one for his second of the season.

The Royals would get that goal back at 11:07 when Phillips slammed home a power-play goal when he was left alone for a back-door pass. It was his eighth of the year for the Calgary Flames’ prospect who potted 50 goals last year.

Seattle’s penalty trouble continued in the first and Phillips would strike again late in the period at the 19:33 mark. Again, he was alone at the back door and got Matt Berlin down and slid in his second of the night on the power play.

Berlin ended the night with 24 saves on 30 shots.

Jared Legien would extend the Victoria lead in the second period at 13:51 when he snuck behind the Seattle defense and Yan Khomenko hit him with a pass. Legien was in alone and snuck a shot past Berlin for his fourth of the season.

Any chance of a third period come back for Seattle was put to rest by Victoria when Regan Nagy scored at 1:49 of the final frame to give the Royals a commanding 4-1 lead. Nagy’s shot hit traffic in front of Berlin and changed direction drastically, giving the goalie little chance to find it.

It would be a goal that would deflate Seattle a bit as they then faced a three-goal deficit.

“They’re an opportunistic team,” O’Dette said. “You give them the power plays and two other breakaways and we didn’t take care of the puck properly. They don’t miss those.”

Tyler Soy would add on for the Royals after picking up a turnover and scoring at 5:49 of the third. Victoria would keep scoring, as defenseman Jared Freadrich would make it 6-1 on another power play at the 11-minute mark.

The Thunderbirds have a full week off to regroup as they won’t be in action until October 21st when they host the Moose Jaw Warriors.

“After a game like tonight I’d like to get right back at ‘er, but it’s a long week to work on stuff,” O’Dette said. “We’ve got a young team and practice time is valuable. We’ll put it to good use and get ready for next weekend.”

Notes

• Saturday’s win for Victoria was the first over Seattle since March 2nd of 2015 when they won 3-2 in a shootout.

• Seattle had two more shots than Victoria and it was the first time this season the that the Thunderbirds have out shot an opponent.

• While Victoria was scoring on the power play, Seattle was not and went 0-for-4 when they had a man advantage. “We knew tonight we’d have to win the special teams battle,” O’Dette said. “They’re a good special teams team. Tonight, they had three power-play goals, we had zero so that’s a big factor.”

• Former T-Bird defenseman Anthony Bishop played for Victoria on Saturday and recorded an assist. He was awarded the third star of the game.

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Victoria uses the power play to fly past T-Birds