Thunderbirds rebound strong against Vancouver to even series
Mar 23, 2019, 11:17 PM | Updated: Mar 24, 2019, 8:55 am
(Rik Fedyk/T-Birds)
LANGLEY, British Columbia – The dictionary definition of ‘rebound’ is a reaction to setback, frustration, or crisis.
The Seattle Thunderbirds may not have been in a crisis after Friday’s blow out loss to the Vancouver Giants in Game 1 of their first-round playoff series, but they were definitely frustrated and dealing with a setback. Saturday night was the rebound.
Seattle never trailed in Game 2 at the Langley Events Centre as it scored first, and last, and evened the best-of-seven series with a 4-1 victory.
“That’s what we needed,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “That playoff urgency, the desperation, all the little plays are magnified. The buy in was better tonight.”
Thunderbirds forward Nolan Volcan described Friday’s loss as ‘embarrassing’ and Saturday looked like he took it personally.
The Captain scored a late empty net goal to seal the win and assisted on two other scores, including what would be the game-winning goal by Simon Kubicek. Along the way he was a physical force, hitting every white sweater he came across, and eventually began to get under the Giants skin.
“I think everyone wanted to come out here and prove something,” Volcan said. “Losing in a manner like that first game is a tough pill to swallow. We wanted to come out and lead with our best foot forward and bring our best game. I thought we played well and its awesome to get that split.”
After allowing six goals in Game 1, goalie Roddy Ross showed no ill effects and kicked out 39 Vancouver shots to pick up his first career playoff win. He was especially under duress over the last seven minutes of the game when the Thunderbirds held a 3-1 lead and the Giants threw everything they had at the Seattle goal.
Ross stopped them all and ended the third by making 17 saves to preserve the win for Seattle.
“I don’t think a lot rattles him,” O’Dette said of Ross. “He’s pretty calm and cool, stood tall and the guys played better in front of him. Roddy was there for us tonight.”
He played better on Friday than the six goals would indicate and playing in his first playoff series, could easily have had the opening loss get to him. Vancouver tested him but he made several key saves throughout the night.
As he has been since joining the Thunderbirds on New Year’s Day, Ross was calm after and said it wasn’t hard to recover from Friday’s loss.
“The key is just move on to the next save,” Ross said. “Just be ready to recover yourself. Make sure you have the right mindset to stay in the game and be ready for anything and not give up on yourself.”
Seattle got a boost by scoring the game’s first goal on Saturday.
Sean Richards, off the rush, would manage to squeak a shot past Vancouver goalie Trent Miner from the goal line at 4:38 of the first period. It would help set the tone and set Richards up for a strong night that ended with a goal and an assist.
Kubicek would extend the Thunderbirds lead at the 15:09 mark of the first when he scored with a wrist shot through traffic on a Seattle power play. A night after going 0-for-7 with the man advantage, Seattle would go 1-for-4 with what would turn out to be the game-winning marker.
“Their goalies are great,” O’Dette said. “If they’re seeing the puck you’re not going to score. Simple play on the power play, we have to simplify sometimes. Kubi’s got a pretty good wrist shot and that was a nice seeing-eye goal there.”
The Giants cut into the lead by scoring a late first-period power-play goal of their own by Jadon Joseph.
That wouldn’t swing the momentum however as Seattle clamped down in the second period. The Thunderbirds forecheck forced the Giants to fight their way down the full 200 feet of the rink. Seattle took away time and space and quieted the game, and the arena, down.
“Our second period needed to be better,” O’Dette said. “Last night it wasn’t really good. Just the puck management, everyone bought in to the puck management and buckled down a lot more in the D-Zone.”
Andrej Kukuca would give the Thunderbirds a 3-1 cushion 4:33 into the third period with his second of the playoffs and Volcan would fight through a penalty to score on the empty net to put the game away.
With the win, the Thunderbirds got what they had set out to accomplish. They got the road split to open the playoffs and will return home to the accesso ShoWare Center Tuesday night with a chance to take a series lead on home ice.
“We’re feeling good, but the same thing goes,” Volcan said. “Last night we lost 7-1, tonight we win 4-1 and it’s the same mentality. You’ve got to enjoy it a little bit and then forget about it, get ready for Tuesday night.”
Notes
• O’Dette made a couple of adjustments to his lineup and lines Saturday night. Graeme Bryks and Keltie Jeri-Leon got back into the lineup and the lines were put into a blender, with positive results.
• Zachary Ashton also was pressed into duty on the back end as defenseman Jake Lee was suspended for Saturday’s game due to his five-minute major cross-checking penalty in Game 1. Ashton, paired with Cade McNelly, held his own against Vancouver’s top line. “Great game by Ashton,” O’Dette said. “Stepped up and it’s not easy to get thrown in the fire. He played real well and was a nice boost for us.”
• Not only was Volcan a physical force Saturday, he picked up three points, took four shots and won both faceoffs he took.
• There was a sizable, and loud, contingent of Seattle fans who made the journey to Langley for Saturday’s game. They could be heard throughout the game, despite the fact they were outnumbered by the locals. “Coming out right away when we heard our fan support, it gave us an instant boost,” O’Dette said. “We really needed that boost, we appreciate the boost. That’s T-Birds fans for you, the best fans in the league and they’re there when we need them.”