THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds outlast Americans behind big night from Nolan Volcan

Oct 16, 2018, 11:38 PM | Updated: Oct 17, 2018, 12:58 am

Seattle captain Nolan Volcan celebrates one of his two goals Tuesday (Brian Liesse/ T-Birds)...

Seattle captain Nolan Volcan celebrates one of his two goals Tuesday (Brian Liesse/ T-Birds)

(Brian Liesse/ T-Birds)

KENT – Seattle Thunderbirds captain Nolan Volcan wasn’t happy with the way he had been playing so far this season.

Wednesday night, with the Thunderbirds locked in a 4-4 tie with the Tri-City Americans at the start of the third period, he came up big. Volcan, who had already scored a goal on the night, powered his way to the net and back handed a rebound past Americans goalie Beck Warm just 1:29 into the frame.

“For me personally, my first seven games, I wasn’t playing the way I wanted to,” Volcan said. “I don’t think I was playing as strong as I need to. Tonight, especially, I just made sure to come in, play simple, move my feet and hopefully get going.”

He got going as he scored twice and added two assists while the Thunderbirds won their fourth straight game after holding on to beat the Tri-City Americans 5-4 at the accesso ShoWare Center. Seattle (6-1-1-0) continued its offensive prowess and now has scored 25 goals in its last four.

The Thunderbirds started hot, building a 2-0 lead while out shooting the Americans 12-1 to start the game. They would lose Dillon Hamaliuk to injury, which caused some line juggling and adjustments that Tri-City (4-4-0-0) took advantage of to get back in the game.

“Not ideal when a top six guy goes out and you have to shuffle the lines a bit,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “Some guys took it upon themselves to step up and we came out with a great third period and got it done.”

O’Dette said that Hamaliuk was ‘bumped’ and that he left the game as a precaution. His status for Seattle’s next game is uncertain.

The Americans were led by Nolan Yaremko’s two scores which helped erase a 3-1 deficit to take a lead late in the second period. Reece Harsch would get Seattle square again with just over a minute-and-a-half left in the second when he scored his first goal of the year on a big slap shot while on the power play.

Harsch had missed four games this season due to injury and was a welcome sight back on the Seattle blue line.

“He stepped into that spot there on the power play when (Hamaliuk) went out,” O’Dette said. “That’s the Harsch that we know. It took him a little bit of time to get up to speed with his injury but that’s the type of player we expect.”

With Seattle’s young defense, Harsch can be a calming influence and the 19-year-old veteran is happy to be healthy and playing again.

“It was pretty challenging at first,” he said of the start of his season. “Lot of set backs with my hip injury. (assistant coach Kyle Hagel) and (athletic trainer Phil Varney) put me through some good workouts to make sure I recovered.”

Seattle’s scorching power play continued to cash in Tuesday with two more goals on seven attempts. The Thunderbirds have 11 power-play goals during their four-game win streak.

Volcan helped set the tone early on Tuesday.

He set up Seattle’s first goal at 4:09 of the first when he won a battle along the boards and slid the puck to a wide open Owen Williams who would score his second of the season. Six minutes later, Volcan would fight his way to the front of the net and flip his first of the night, and third of the season, past Warm on the power play.

“He was an animal tonight,” O’Dette said of his captain. “He put the team on his back and I was able to play him a ton. He was great.”

Tri-City would get one back in the first after Riley Sawchuck scored his fifth on a rebound off the end boards at 13:28 of the first.

Volcan would set up Seattle’s third goal 24 seconds into the middle period. He got a shot on goal that Warm stopped but Andrej Kukuca was there to score on the rebound. Down 3-1 the Americans stormed back. Parker AuCoin scored less than a minute later to make it 3-2 and then two goals from Yaremko would give Tri-City a one-goal lead with under four minutes left in the period.

Harsch’s goal would tie it and that set up Volcan’s big goal to start the third.

The four points for Volcan were the most he’s recorded since a five-point night last December in Spokane.

“Coming into tonight, the biggest thing lately is I think I was thinking I was working harder than I was,” Volcan said. “After watching some video I just came in and made sure that I was keeping my feet moving, shoot the puck and try to make the right play.”

In a strange quirk of the schedule, Seattle will next play at Tri-City on Friday before hosting the Americans again on Saturday. With three straight games against each other, this week has a bit of a playoff series feel to it.

“It will be a lot of a chess match, so to speak, with some of the systems, face offs and special teams,” O’Dette said. “It’s always tough divisional games, we knew it was going to be a battle tonight.”

Notes

• Liam Hughes was in net again for Seattle and picked up his sixth win of the season after making 25 saves.

• The Thunderbirds came into Tuesday night with the league’s top power-play units, clicking at over 30-percent. After going 2-for-7 against the Americans, they remained on top of the league’s man advantage standings.

• After not finding the back of the net in Seattle’s first five games, Kukuca has scored in three of the last four.

• Matthew Wedman picked up two assists on Tuesday and has seven in his last four.

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