THUNDERBIRDS

Complete game effort propels Thunderbirds past Royals 4-1

Dec 7, 2019, 9:07 AM

Seattle's Max Patterson tries to find a loose puck during the Thunderbirds 4-1 win in Victoria Frid...

Seattle's Max Patterson tries to find a loose puck during the Thunderbirds 4-1 win in Victoria Friday. (Jaw Wallace/Royals)

(Jaw Wallace/Royals)

VICTORIA, British Columbia – Before every period of Seattle’s 4-1 win over the Victoria Royals Friday night, the Thunderbirds players gathered in a hallway outside their dressing room. It had been less than 24-hours since their captain, Matthew Wedman, was traded but the mood was upbeat and positive.

Players jumped up and down, often into each other. There were high-fives — many of the elaborate variety — handshakes, head bumps, and smiles. The young Thunderbirds carried that positive energy on to the ice at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and played perhaps the most complete game of the season.

“We talk about 100-percent buy-in and there it was,” Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said. “That’s what it looks like when you’ve got everybody going and everybody playing for the team first. A lot of positive energy tonight.”

From the opening shift, the Thunderbirds hit and hit hard.

They finished every check, forechecked, moved the puck well, and created offensive chances.

Payton Mount would score twice, rookie Conner Roulette added a goal and an assist, and Blake Lyda picked up his second straight win by turning away 35 of the 36 Royals shots he saw. If there was a question about a leadership void, it appeared to have been answered right away.

“These young guys are resilient,” O’Dette said. “That’s part of hockey, trades happen and you move on. We’ve moved on. We welcomed (Max Patterson) with open arms and I thought he was great tonight. The guys just stayed positive, focused, and eyes on the two points tonight.”

Finding some consistent lines

All season long, O’Dette has been looking for some lines to emerge and play consistently.

Saturday night, he had two that were doing that.

Mount played with Andrej Kukuca and newcomer Max Patterson, who was acquired the night before in a trade with Everett. Patterson, 20, met the team as they arrived at the arena and without practice, had an impact.

He had an assist, but was on a line that pushed the pace, and scored two goals.

“Patty’s great to play with right off the hop,” Mount said. “Looks like we have some chemistry, we knew where each other were going to be. We just tried to play with pace the entire game, push the pace, and we got some bounces.”

Mount scored in the second period, his fifth of the year, streaking to the net where he picked up a pass from Kukuca. After the Royals had cut Seattle’s lead to 3-1 late in the second period, Mount would slide a rebound past Royals goalie Shane Farkas – who had relieved starter Brock Gould in the second period – for his second of the night to reestablish the Thunderbirds’ three-goal lead.

The line combined for the two goals and three assists and Patterson went 15-for-20 in the face-off dot, which helped lead to puck possession.

“A big, smart centerman like that is such a valuable guy,” O’Dette said. “With a defensive mind, he’s responsible in all ends of the ice. I thought he was really positive on the bench. A good addition to the team.”

For the third straight game, Seattle’s best line was one centered by Henrik Rybinski with Keltie Jeri-Leon and Roulette on the wings.

They were in the Royals end all night, creating chances, turning the puck over on the forecheck and scoring goals.

“I think it’s just chemistry and playing with skill,” Roulette said. “We know where each other are and can find each other. We all play similar type games and we’ve added a team formula to it. We play positive and we bring each other up. Off the ice we’re clicking, on the ice, we’re clicking.”

That line opened the scoring in the first period Friday night. Jeri-Leon forced a turnover after pinning a Victoria defender in the corner. Roulette picked the loose puck up behind the net and slid it to Rybinski who was parked in front. The Florida Panthers prospect banged it home for his third of the season.

In the second period, Roulette built the Thunderbirds lead to 3-0 with a crazy goal.

He had the puck at the side of the Royals net and as he glided behind it, he threw the puck back, between his legs and off the skate of Victoria’s Will Warm and into the net for his sixth of the year.

“I was just throwing it on net between my legs,” Roulette said with a smile. “It ended up hitting a skate and going in. Whatever counts, counts. It was a big goal and got the guys going. When you need a goal you need it anyway you can and we were lucky that bounced in.”

Roulette, 16, has been hot of late.

In his last three games, he has two goals and three assists and is one of the young players that the team is looking to build a future around.

Trading Wedman was part of it, and it sent a message to guys like Roulette that the club believes in them.

“It definitely puts me in a mindset to keep it up, to have that thought in mind that they’re trying to build a team around the young guys,” Roulette says. “Right now, we’re just focused on getting better and evolving as a team, that’s all we’re thinking about.”

Lyda continues to stay hot

With back-to-back games this weekend, Lyda got the nod in net on Saturday and picked up his second win in his last two starts.

He was solid on Friday, confidently making saves and challenging shooters. The only goal he allowed came on a Royals power play, and even that was on an odd-man rush.

Since the disastrous game in Kamloops earlier in the month, the 17-year-old has responded strongly. In the two starts since that game, he’s posted a save percentage of .989 and a goals-against-average of 1.50.

“He’s a good goalie,” O’Dette said of Lyda. “The team’s playing better in front of him. He’ got the ball rolling, got some confidence and we knew he had it in him.”

Duplication moving forward

O’Dette has talked a lot this season about duplicating the formula that has led the Thunderbirds to their wins this year.

When Seattle has struggled it usually stems to poor management of the puck and that’s the key to the Thunderbirds formula. It all came together on Friday.

“That’s probably our tidiest game of the year, just moving the puck well,” O’Dette said of Friday. “There’s still room for improvement but we moved it well, got it into their end. We initiated the forecheck and had some really good O-Zone shifts that created havoc below their goal line. That’s contagious when that starts happening then the next line wants to feed off that and duplicate that.”

Playing the same way every night is a challenge for young players as they continue to develop their games. Seattle has yet to win two games in a row this season and will try to do that Saturday night with another tilt in Victoria.

They are six points out of the Western Conference’s last playoff spot and to a man, wants to try and qualify.

Game Notes

• Patterson wasn’t the only Thunderbirds center who had success at the dot Friday. Rybinski was 12-for-17 and Matthew Rempe won seven of 13.

• Seattle was without defenseman Cade McNelly who was serving the first game of a five-game suspension handed out by the WHL for a cross-checking major penalty Tuesday night against Spokane.

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