Thunderbirds on the brink after tight Game 5 loss in Vancouver

LANGLEY, British Columbia – The dam finally broke, just under five minutes into the third period, for the Thunderbirds in Game 5 against the Vancouver Giants.

On a delayed penalty, Vancouver defenseman Bowen Byram whirled around the ice with the extra attacker on. He got in close and snapped a shot that Seattle goalie Roddy Ross stopped. Unfortunately for Seattle, Vancouver’s Dallas Hines was on the doorstep to bang home the rebound.

It broke a 2-2 tie and would end up being the game-winning score for the Giants as they held on for a crucial 3-2 win Friday night at the Langley Events Centre in a game that puts the Thunderbirds on the brink of elimination.

“I thought we played hard, it was a battle of a game,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “Just not as quite as detailed with our game as we were in the previous game. That led to us not being efficient enough and they spent some time in our end and in an intense battle like that its somewhat a war of attrition.”

The win gives the Giants a 3-2 lead in the series and they will look to advance, while ending Seattle’s season, Saturday night back at the ShoWare Center for Game 6.

As back and forth as the series has been so far, Friday night’s game was the same as the teams traded leads three times. The goalies were the stars as Ross made 30 saves on the evening while his counterpart, Trent Miner, kicked out 25 Thunderbirds attempts.

Ross was especially strong in the second period, after the Thunderbirds had tied the game at 3:57 on a power-play goal from Noah Philp.

The Giants snuck players behind the Seattle defense on two different occasions, only to be stoned by Ross. Vancouver also pinned the Thunderbirds in their own zone for much of the period, generating several Grade A scoring bids, again Ross was there – making 15 second period saves.

“Obviously we have to keep the guys in front of us,” O’Dette said. “I don’t know if that’s something specific they were trying to do but it’s pretty standard for D, keeping everyone in front of you.”

As they did in Game 4, the Giants jumped out to a two-goal lead in the first period.

Dylan Plouffe scored for the second straight game, 7:06 into the opening period, when his wrist shot off the rush found its way over Ross’ shoulder. Jadon Joseph would then score his fourth of the series at 12:58 when he chipped a shot in while on a Vancouver power play.

Seattle found itself down 2-0 in the first, despite playing a solid road period.

The Thunderbirds would cut the lead before the first period horn however, when Henrik Rybinksi made a quick pass in front of the net that Matthew Wedman was able to bang past Miner on a Seattle power-play chance at 14:14.

Seattle ended the night 2-for-5 with the man advantage and have scored seven of its 15 goals in the series while on the power play. Friday night they weren’t able to generate any scoring while playing five-on-five.

“It was a tight game,” O’Dette said. “We just needed 20-percent more of execution as far as our game plan and maybe we end up on top. Just wasn’t quite as detailed in our execution as we were before.”

While they didn’t score at even strength, the Thunderbirds did get some looks. Andrej Kukuca rang a shot off the post in the first period. Keltie Jeri-Leon had a good look from the slot early on as well, but Miner was there.

The same fate met Nolan Volcan who had a breakaway look in the second period. Seattle was close but just couldn’t find the big goal it needed.

With time running out and their net empty, the Thunderbirds desperately tried to even the game and sent it to overtime. The Giants did a good job of keeping Seattle to the outside, save one last desperate scramble in front of Miner, a scramble where the Thunderbirds couldn’t find the puck.

“They packed the house pretty good,” O’Dette said of the last two minutes. “We got a few to the net and created some scrambles, which is what we want to do. We weren’t able to find the loose puck in that big pile up there. A see saw battle and we have to hold our serve back in our rink.”

Neither team has lost back-to-back games in the series, a trend that the Thunderbirds hope continues in Saturday’s Game 6.

They’ll have their home crowd behind them for what they hope isn’t the last game of the season.

“Obviously they’re going to want to close it out and we’re going to want to stay alive,” Volcan said. “It’s going to be a good game and both teams are going to play hard. I’m looking forward to it.”

Game 6 will be at the accesso ShoWare Center Saturday night at 6 pm.

Notes

• The Thunderbirds were without forward Sean Richards and defenseman Cade McNelly in Friday’s game. Richards was serving a suspension for his checking-from-behind major against Aiden Barfoot in Game 4 while McNelly was serving the second game of a two-game suspension for making a threatening gesture in Tuesday’s Game 3.

• With Richards out, O’Dette had to adjust his forward lines. He chose to spread out his scorers through out the top nine. “We had to shuffle some lines to create some more balance,” he said. “I thought our guys did a decent job of stepping in. Obviously, Richie is a big part of our team right now and its playoff mentality, guys need to step up and fill the void.”

• Volcan established a new franchise record for most playoff games by appearing in his 54^th with Seattle. He’ll extend that record Saturday night in what has the chance to be his last game at home, and in a Thunderbirds sweater. He has played in 375 regular season and postseason games for the Thunderbirds. After Friday’s loss he said that he wasn’t too focused on the potential of playing his last game, opting to go into Saturday with a ‘clear mind’ to extend the series.

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