Thunderbirds with dramatic overtime win in Spokane

Tied at two in overtime, it was looking bleak for the Seattle Thunderbirds on Tuesday night in Spokane.

They had already blown a 2-0 lead in the third period and now the Chiefs were racing down the ice on a two-on-none breakaway. Spokane’s Kailer Yamamoto, one of the top goal scorers in the league, had the puck and surely was going to win the game.

Seattle goalie Rylan Toth didn’t flinch however.

He made an aggressive move to reach out and poke the puck off of Yamamoto’s stick before he could get a shot off. The puck went down the other end where Keegan Kolesar got it to Austin Strand who would score to give the T-Birds a big 3-2 overtime win on the road.

Toth ended the night with 35 saves, but none bigger than the poke-check in overtime.

“It was great play,” Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “You have the best goal scorer in the league and you see him on the breakaway, cutting back against the grain. You think there’s going to be an empty net so to get a stick in there, that’s a great play and it gave us the points. I think most goalies you score that but our goalie won the battle.”

For Strand, it was his second goal of the night as Seattle (26-15-3-1) picked up two important points on the road. While they gave away the lead to a desperate Spokane (20-20-6-2) club, in the end, the T-Birds found a way to win.

“It was a big two points,” Konowalchuk said. “Anytime you can find a way to win it’s big.”

The two teams played a scoreless first period before Seattle would strike in the second.

Seattle had not scored on the power play in its last four games but would take the lead Tuesday with the man advantage. On its second power play of the night they wasted no time as Mathew Barzal won a faceoff back to Ethan Bear at the point and he unloaded on a slap shot. The puck hit the back of the net but there was some uncertainty as to who gets credit for it.

On the ice, the T-Birds congratulated Bear but the official scorers say the goal belonged to Alexander True who was parked in front of the Spokane net. It would be True’s 15^th of the season.

With the lead the T-Birds leaned on their penalty kill later in the period, killing off 52 seconds of a five-on-three stretch that kept the Chiefs off the scoreboard.

The T-Birds would add to their lead late in the second when Barzal kept the puck in the zone and got it to Strand who fired a wrist shot for his third goal of the season.

Since joining the T-Birds just prior to the trade deadline, Strand has made his mark. He has scored three goals with Seattle and the team’s record with him in the lineup is 8-1.

“He did a good job for us,” Konowalchuk said of Strand. “He can skate and he brings some speed back there, which is important.”

Down two goals and fighting for a playoff spot, the Chiefs came out pushing in the third period. They would tie the game up at two in the first ten minutes on a scramble goal by Eli Zummack and then a wrist shot from the boards by Alex Mowbray.

“I didn’t like a lot of our game,” Konowalchuk said. “The other team pushed pretty hard and at times we were just playing good enough, or 90-percent and that’s how we let them back in the game.”

With the game tied and overtime looming the T-Birds had a golden chance to win it in regulation when they were given nearly two full minutes of a five-on-three power-play advantage. While they didn’t score, they almost gave up the lead if not for another big play.

As he would in overtime, Yamamoto had a breakaway and this time, Bear found the speed to chase him down. He avoided a penalty by getting body position on the speedy forward and taking the puck away. It was a great effort play by one of Seattle’s top players.

“Again you have the top goal scorer on a breakaway who is probably one of the fastest guys in the league,” Konowalchuk said. “For Bear to chase him down, it was good to see him hit that gear.”

The T-Birds didn’t score on the power play but the Bear play allowed them to get the game into overtime where Strand would win it for them.

With the win Seattle pulled to within five points of second place Tri City. The T-Birds have five games in hand and play the Americans twice this coming weekend, starting with a Friday night tilt in Kennewick.

“Our guys need to battle through tougher than they did during parts of the game,” Konowalchuk said. “That can happen when you win a lot of games but we certainly want to get our compete up a little higher going into the weekend.”

Notes

• Defenseman Jarret Tyszka left the game in the first period after being hit along the end boards. He did not return and Konowalchuk did not have an update to his condition after the game.

• Barzal ended the night with two assists which give him 24 in 19 games this year. He now has 170 assists in 180 career WHL games and has a shot to end his career averaging an assist per game.

• Strand’s two markers on Tuesday was the first time in his three-year career that he has scored twice in one game.

• The win was the third straight for Seattle over Spokane and the T-Birds have won eight of their last 10 overall.

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