THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds drop Vancouver to snap three-game losing streak

Oct 28, 2018, 9:35 AM | Updated: 11:42 am

Seattle's Jaxan Kaluski fights for position with Vancouver's Evan Patrician Saturday night (Rik Fed...

Seattle's Jaxan Kaluski fights for position with Vancouver's Evan Patrician Saturday night (Rik Fedyk/Giants)

(Rik Fedyk/Giants)

LANGLEY, British Columbia – There’s an old adage in hockey that you need your goalie to be your best penalty killer. Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Liam Hughes lived up to that standard Saturday night against the Vancouver Giants.

With Seattle holding on to a three-goal lead in the third period, the Thunderbirds took a number of penalties. The Giants had extended power-play time, including a two-man advantage, with a chance to get back in the game.

Hughes would shut them down, making 16 saves in the third period, as the Thunderbirds bounced back from a bad loss to pick up a 5-1 win against the first place Giants. Hughes would end the night with 41 saves, a day after he got lifted during a lop-sided loss.

“Great bounce back for him,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “He’s a great goalie.”

Seattle (7-3-2-0) needed Hughes after losing defenseman Reece Harsch during the second period and having to finish the game with just five defensemen, three of which are rookies and none that are over 18-years-old.

Rooke Tyrel Bauer was on the ice for most of the third period penalty kills and made a number of nice plays to keep the Giants from getting back in the game.

“We were just talking about Bauer in the coach’s room,” O’Dette said of his rookie defenseman. “In a game like that where we’re under siege a little bit, he was arguably our most composed D. That’s pretty impressive for a 16-year-old.”

Vancouver (10-3-2-0) out shot the Thunderbirds 42-24 on the night but only get one Milos Roman shot past Hughes. Seattle was paced offensively by Matthew Wedman, who scored twice, and a late, highlight reel goal, by Dillon Hamaliuk.

O’Dette was not happy with the way his team competed during Friday’s 7-2 home loss to the Kamloops Blazers and it would be Wedman’s line that helped set a different tone Saturday. Along with Nolan Volcan and Andrej Kukuca, the top line for Seattle was relentless on the forecheck, physical and dangerous all evening.

That play resulted in getting the Thunderbirds on the board first at 8:08 of the opening period. Volcan took a shot that was stopped by Vancouver goalie David Tendeck. Wedman crashed the net however and had the rebound hit his knee and go into the net.

“They were great,” O’Dette said about the line. “Too bad I can’t play them the whole game. They were really good. I thought the other lines were good but the Wedman line definitely carried us tonight. We challenged everybody but as veteran guys, our leaders need to do that at times. Put it on their shoulders and have a big game for us.”

Sameul Huo would give the Thunderbirds a two-goal lead ten minutes later when he took a pass from Zack Andrusiak and blistered a wrist shot into the top corner. It was the first of the year for Huo, who had a strong night after being moved to center.

He had been playing on the wing this year but seemed more comfortable in the pivot – a position he played a great deal of last season.

“He’s been working hard,” O’Dette said of Huo. “We’ve been working with him on some things, managing the puck a lot better. Tonight, he was really good. He made great decisions with the puck, made some plays and gave us good shifts.”

Seattle ended the first with the dreaded 2-0 lead. It’s the same lead that the Thunderbirds have had in all three games during the three-game losing streak they began the night on.

It would be different Saturday night.

Hamaliuk would set up Noah Philp for his team-leading ninth marker of the season 4:46 into the second period and then the top line would get together for Wedman’s second goal. Kukuca started the play by spinning off a defender and getting a shot on Tendeck. Volcan crashed the net and took a whack at the rebound which ended up in the slot where Wedman found it and finished it for his fifth of the evening.

That would end the night for Tendeck as he would be replaced by Tent Miner after making just eight saves on 12 shots.

Harsch would leave the game during the second and the young Seattle defense would be in hang-on mode for much of the remainder of the game. The Thunderbirds ended up killing off all seven of the Giants’ power-play chances however, with a lot of help from their goaltender.

The Giants would get one goal back in the third when Roman snapped his sixth of the year past Hughes at 4:36 of the period.

“I thought we buckled down and were doing the things we needed to do,” O’Dette said. “I think we weren’t comfortable with the lead and maybe started to lose some composure there, when Harsch went down. Put a little bit of pressure on our D, they bent obviously, but didn’t break. They held the fort.”

Hamaliuk would add an exclamation point late in the game. Streaking down the wing, he made one move to leave a defender standing still and then quickly stick handled to slide a back-hander past Miner for a goal that will get replayed a lot throughout the week to come. It was his seventh and the big winger ended the night with two points.

Seattle will now get ready for a tough road match up Tuesday with the Spokane Chiefs.

Notes

• Seattle’s penalty kill is on a hot streak. With seven more kills Saturday they have not allowed a power-play goal over the last four games, a streak of 19 straight kills.

• O’Dette did not have a status update on the severity of Harsch’s injury. The veteran defenseman has had a string of bad luck this season and has been limited to nine games, after missing all of training camp and the preseason.

• Saturday was only Vancouver’s second regulation home loss on the season — both have come at the hands of the Thunderbirds.

• Wedman has points in six of his last eight games.

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