Matt Berlin walls off Silvertips to end T-Birds’ losing streak

KENT – It wasn’t the prettiest of hockey games Saturday night, but the Thunderbirds found a way to win and snap their five-game losing streak.

Nolan Volcan scored a goal with under 10 minutes to go in a scoreless game to vault the Thunderbirds to a gritty 2-0 shutout of the Everett Silvertips in front of 5,018 at the ShoWare Center. Goalie Matthew Berlin made 27 saves to record the second white-washing in his WHL career and picked up his sixth win.

“It’s pretty exciting, any shot can go in and be the game winning goal,” Berlin said. “Especially in the third period there.”

Berlin was his strongest in the first period when Seattle (10-9-1-1) wasn’t playing at its best in what was an emotional opening frame. Everett (10-11-1-1) got shots on Berlin but couldn’t capitalize.

“The first was very ugly, can’t get more ugly than that,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “Berle’s was unbelievable. He stood on his head there while we were fast asleep and gave us a chance to get going. He deserves a ton of credit tonight.”

The first 40 minutes of hockey Saturday yielded next to nothing for both clubs as they combined for just 36 shots and went 0-for-9 collectively on the power play. It was a two-period stretch that was highlighted by 40 minutes of penalties in the first period, punctuated by former Thunderbird Luke Ormsby getting ejected for kicking.

Battling a rival on back-to-back nights played a role in the emotional start to the game.

“It was more with how we were playing, we weren’t playing well,” O’Dette said. “Kind of a by-product of the frustration we started talking and were doing more talking than playing at that point.”

Both teams struggled to find much offensive flow or generate scoring chances. On the odd shift where they did threaten to score both Everett’s Dustin Wolf and Berlin made all the stops. Wolf, making his first start against Seattle, made 28 saves in the loss.

The game would settle down a bit heading into the third period and Seattle started generating chances, out shooting the Silvertips 13-7 to end the contest.

“After the first two periods a lot of the guys weren’t happy with the way they were playing,” Volcan said. “We just said that we’re pretty fortunate to be 0-0 and let’s take advantage of the opportunity.”

Volcan would break the scoreless game at 10:25 of the third period when he smacked a loose puck past Wolf from the side of the net. It was the third goal Volcan had scored in the two games on the weekend and his ninth of the season.

“He’s unbelievable,” O’Dette said of Volcan. “He does whatever it takes, whether its block shots with his face. Take hits, give hits, whatever he needs to do to help the team, he does it. He’s able to play a lot of minutes for us. His motor is always running high and he can carry a team when he brings that energy.”

The 19-year-old wasn’t done however.

With the one-goal lead and the Everett net empty, he would score again with just over five seconds left to seal the win while picking up his 10^th goal of the year. After scoring both of Seattle’s goals on Friday, Volcan was responsible for all of the Thunderbirds’ markers on the weekend.

He has six points in Seattle’s last three games and is playing with a high level of confidence.

“I was actually joking with (Everett goalie) Carter Hart,” Volcan said. “Before last night I had never scored a regular season goal against him and he lets me know during the summer. I just have to keep going and trying to do the same things.”

The win ended a tough stretch for Seattle, where they found a way to lose games. Saturday they reversed that trend and gutted out an ugly win.

“It’s an emotional weekend, playing rivals and with the late loss last night,” O’Dette said. “There’s a lot of frustration and not being able to get the job done at home lately has been weighing on us.”

Notes

• With four goals in the two games with Everett this weekend, Volcan outscored the Silvertips 4-3.

• Everett has not won a game at the ShoWare Center since Game 1 of a second-round playoff series in 2016.

• Berlin’s last, and first career shutout, came almost exactly a year ago when he made 19 saves to blank the Victoria Royals on Nov. 26^th, 2016.

• Seattle’s Tyler Carpendale was not in the lineup Saturday as he was serving a one-game suspension for a spearing major in Friday’s contest.

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