Silvertips take out T-Birds 5-3 to end the preseason

KENT – For the second straight night the Seattle Thunderbirds gave up four goals in a period to the Everett Silvertips as they dropped their preseason finale by a score of 5-3. The Silvertips took advantage of Seattle penalties to jump out to a 4-1 first period lead and never looked back.

“We’re not playing consistent enough hockey this week,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “It’s been there for most of the camp but we’ve hit a bump in the road here last two and a half games. We’ve got to become a better team again, playing together, working together. We’ll work on that this week and be ready to go.”

Seattle was guilty of not battling hard on Friday night, and while they appeared to do better in that category they found themselves in penalty trouble early and often. They handed Everett five first period power plays, two of which ended up in the back of Seattle’s net – putting the game away early.

Much as they did Friday night, the Silvertips got the scoring going on a power play goal, this time by Kevin Davis. Seattle tied it with a short handed breakaway by Alex Delnov which seemed to give Seattle some energy. The T-Birds then began a parade to the penalty box which put them on their heels and allowed Everett to score three goals over a span of a minute and a half.

Taking a lot of penalties is something that has happened in a few games this preseason and has resulted in the T-Birds getting off their game plan.

“We didn’t even give ourselves a chance with the penalties, we didn’t give ourselves a chance to win the game,” Konowalchuk said. “We deserved them, we gave them the game.”

The T-Birds scored early in the second period on a nice goal by Brandon Troock, who took a pass from Connor Honey and scored while falling to his knees. With plenty of time it seemed that maybe Seattle would be able to shake off the bad start.

The Silvertips were able to get their three goal lead back however as Dawson Leedahl scored a few minutes later.

Seattle was never ever able to generate any consistent offense as the teams went back and forth in the third period. Seattle got a late goal by Roberts Lipsbergs but it was too little too late. This was the second night in a row that Seattle was without their top three defensemen as Shea Theodore, Jared Hauf and Jesse Forsberg were not in the lineup. With guys gone it can be hard to build chemistry but as he did last night, Konowalchuk did not see that as a viable excuse.

“That’s part of what preseason is,” Konowalchuk said. “These guys have been playing all preseason so they should be polished up by now.”

Seattle finishes the presason with a 4-3 record and will now prepare to open the season as the Portland Winterhawks will come to the ShoWare Center next Saturday night. There still are some questions with the roster including who will be the starting goalie for the club. Justin Myles got the start Saturday night and despite giving up five goals played a solid game.

“He played a good game,” Konowalchuk said of his goalie. “He made some big saves, especially on the PK, the goals they got he had guys planted right in front of them, points from the shots, you can’t fault him on those.”

Game Notes

Seattle gave Everett ten power play chances on the game, they cashed in on two of those attempts. Seattle was 0-for-3 with the man advantage.

Konowalchuk says that Jesse Forsberg might be able to play Saturday but described him as ’50-50′.

Mathew Barzal did not get a shift in the third period – coaches decision.

Both Everett and the Prince George Cougars ended the preseason undefeated.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andyeide