Third period sinks Thunderbirds against the Hurricanes

KENT – Seattle’s streak of six games with a point came to an end over a minute-long stretch in the third period Friday night against the Lethbridge Hurricanes.

The Thunderbirds had built a 3-2 lead after 40 minutes, but the Hurricanes would erase that with a pair of goals that would send Seattle to its first regulation defeat since Jan. 8th.

“Not quite the same jump as we’ve had here in the last couple weeks,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “They’re a fast team, give them credit. Some of our habits weren’t quite there. We weren’t getting pucks in as much as we should have. Third period they came out jumping with lots of life and stole the game from us.”

It would be Dylan Cozens who struck first in the third for the Hurricanes.

After a shot was stopped, he put back the rebound at 4:08 into the third period to tie the game at three. It was the second goal of the game for Cozens, who is expected to be selected in the top five of June’s draft. Just 51 seconds later, Jake Leschyshyn would sneak a shot past goalie Roddy Ross on the short side to put the Hurricanes up for good.

The Thunderbirds would not be able to find an equalizer and dropped a 4-3 decision.

Seattle (17-22-4-1) got a goal and an assist from Noah Philp, along with 35 saves by Ross, who was saddled with his first loss in regulation.

“He was good,” O’Dette said of Ross. “He kept us in the game and he made some big saves. He was definitely a high light.”

Lethbridge (25-13-4-4) was paced by the two markers from Cozens and 26 saves from rookie goalie Carl Tetachuk who won his 11^th game of the season.

Down a goal in the third period, the Thunderbirds offense would go stagnant. After firing 24 shots at Tetachuk in the first two periods, they only managed five the rest of the way.

“I think we just weren’t sticking to the game plan,” Philp said about the third period. “We stopped managing the puck. We had a bunch of turnovers and it cost us.”

It would be a turnover in the neutral zone that led to the go-ahead goal by Leschyshyn. Up until that point, the Hurricanes top line had been held in check. Leschyshyn, along with Jordy Bellerive and Nick Henry are all NHL drafted players and found away to strike when the Hurricanes needed them to.

“They’ve got their point totals for a reason, they’re good players,” O’Dette said. “I thought they put us on our heels a good chunk of the night, just with their speed. It’s disappointing that our run comes to an end but we’ll start a new one.”

Philp got the Thunderbirds on the board at 7:01 of the first when he took the puck off the half boards and beat Tetachuk over his glove side. The Hurricanes would tie the game with 48 seconds left in the first when Cozens struck from the high slot on a power play.

The Hurricanes would end the night 1-for-4 on the man advantage.

Jarret Tyszka would give Seattle its lead back with a power-play goal of his own 8:55 into the second period when he blasted his fifth of the year on a one-timer through traffic. Lethbridge again tied the game, at the 14:24 mark, off the stick of Scott Mahovlich, after his shot hit Ross but would land over his shoulder and in the net.

Nolan Volcan would put Seattle up 3-2 just over a minute later when he flung a wrist shot past Tetachuk for his 19^th of the season. That would send the Thunderbirds into the dressing room after 40 minutes feeling good.

The Hurricanes changed that over the first five minutes of the final period and skated away with the win.

“It seems like we were a step behind on the races,” O’Dette said of the loss. “We’re normally the team winning on loose pucks and we didn’t do that tonight. We didn’t get enough pucks to their net, I’ll have to see the video but I’m pretty sure we could have directed more there.”

Seattle ended the night being out shot by Lethbridge 39-26, which is the largest shot disparity in the last 11 contests for Seattle. It’s also just the second time that the Thunderbirds have been outshot in that span, after being one shot short of the Spokane Chiefs Tuesday night.

Friday’s game was the first of a crucial, and grueling, three-in-three weekend for the Thunderbirds. They will play again on Saturday night, in Portland, before finishing up Sunday after noon with a home game against the Kamloops Blazers.

They didn’t start the weekend they wanted and will have to find a way to rebound both physically and mentally.

“Just getting your rest and doing the right things between now and the next game,” Philp said about managing the weekend. “We have a big couple games coming up and they’re important. We have to rest up and get ready for them.”

Notes

• With three games this weekend, O’Dette hinted that he might go with Cole Schwebius in net on Saturday night, but wouldn’t commit.

• Seattle ended the night 1-for-2 with the power play.

• Sean Richards had two assists on Friday night to up his total since joining the Thunderbirds to eight points in as many games.

• Volcan has goals in his last three games and leads the team with 19.

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