Thunderbirds stay alive with 6-1 rout of Wheat Kings

KENT – What a difference a night can make.

After three heartbreaking losses, the T-Birds got one back in a big way on Wednesday night to stay alive in Game 4 of the WHL Championship Series.

Leaving no chance for a fourth crazy overtime finish, Seattle struck out to a big lead early and poured it on late to blast the Brandon Wheat Kings 6-1.

Alexander True and Ryan Gropp both scored twice to pace the T-Birds as they staved off elimination in the best-of-seven series.

Refusing to go away quietly, Seattle played its best game of the series so far and was rewarded with a convincing win. The T-Birds built a lead early, but instead of relenting it to the Wheat Kings, they expanded on it.

“That was a big win for us,” Scott Eansor said. “Putting the puck in the net is always a confidence booster for a lot of guys, and now it’s one shift at a time.”

Early on it was True and Cavin Leth that got Seattle rolling.

“I thought to kick off our game was Leth and True,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “Real big game at both ends of the ice. It takes some pressure off the other guys. We’re going to need everyone to chip in.”

True scored the goals but he was set up on both by Leth, who started the plays. The two have been among the best players for the T-Birds in this series but had been snake-bit heading into Game 4.

Leth especially had missed on several chances that included a breakaway in Game 1 and a hit crossbar in Game 3. It was a different story on Wednesday.

“Not a lot of bounces have been going our lines way,” Leth said after. “But today we just stuck with it. We were good at both ends of the ice and it paid off.”

With a 1-0 Seattle lead, the Leth-True combo got going in the second period when Leth led them into the Brandon zone on a two-on-one rush. He got the puck past a diving defenseman to True who wasted no time in flinging the puck past a sprawled out Jordan Papirny.

It gave the T-Birds the much sought after two-goal lead they couldn’t find in the previous three contests. As a testament to how close this series has been, it was the first two-goal lead for either team.

It was also True’s second goal in as many games but he and Leth weren’t done.

“There wasn’t much there but I knew True had a good shot from there,” Leth said. “I just tried to get it across to him and he ended up putting it in the back of the net.”

Just over two minutes later, Leth got in close for a chance that Papirny stopped but the puck trickled through into the crease where True whacked it in to give Seattle a 3-0 lead heading into the third period.

With the big lead, the T-Birds were finally able to relax and play their game.

“(We’re) a little bit of a frustrated team,” Konowalchuk said. “Everyone’s believing and saying the right things but you don’t want to keep getting kicked down too much. You get that first goal, and then the second goal and I think our guys relaxed a little bit and played with a little more fun and passion.”

The fun and passion got going in the first period.

Mathew Barzal had the puck in the corner and fed it to a wide open Bear at the point. Instead of shooting it, Bear noticed Ryan Gropp alone into the right of the Brandon goal. He got him the puck and Gropp buried it to give Seattle a much needed first goal.

It was only the second even strength goal that the T-Birds had scored in the series and it seemed to give the T-Birds some extra jump.

The two True goals would then give Seattle a 3-0 lead heading into the third period where the floodgates opened up.

Gropp picked up his second of the night after he made a nice move at the blue line to give him room. He moved in and fired a wrist shot. That made it 4-0 and pretty much put the game in doubt.

That was followed up by a Donovan Neuls goal to make it 5-0 and then Ethan Bear topped off the scoring with a blast on the power play.

Brandon’s Jayce Hawryluk ended Landon Bow’s chance for a shutout with a late power-play score.

In the two games at the ShoWare Center the T-Birds have done a good job of slowing down the potent Wheat Kings line centered by Nolan Patrick. The league’s leading playoff scorer, Patrick, had scored twice in the first two games but has been held pointless in the two games in Kent.

“He’s a great player,” Eansor said of the match up. “Their whole line moves the puck really well. It’s just good sound defense and attention to detail in the defensive zone and make sure you come back hard.”

That match up will be key again in Friday’s Game 5 as the T-Birds look to hold off elimination for another night. They’ll go into that game feeling a little bit better than they did before Wednesday night.

“To get a big win here really is good for the locker room,” Gropp said. “It really helps with the confidence and we’ll take a couple of hours here after the game to think about it and then we’re on to the next game.”

Game 5 will be Friday night at the ShoWare Center at 7:35 p.m.

Notes

• Despite being down 3-1 in the series, the T-Birds have outscored Brandon 12-10 over the four games.

• Wednesday night’s win was the first WHL Championship Series game victory in franchise history for the Thunderbirds. They were swept in the 1997 finals and now have an all-time record of 1-7 in the WHL Championships.

• Bear had a goal and two assists to extend his playoff point-streak to eight games. He also has taken over the team lead in playoff goals with eight.

• With the score out of reach, the Wheat Kings started a parade to the penalty box with six minor penalties. The worst one may have been the one they got away with. Hawryluk appeared to spear T-Birds defenseman Turner Ottenbreit between the legs behind the play. Ottenbreit had to be helped off the ice but somehow the officials failed to see the play.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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