THUNDERBIRDS

Thunderbirds crush Americans 9-2 in Game 3; chance to clinch series Friday night

Mar 29, 2017, 10:34 PM | Updated: Mar 30, 2017, 3:46 pm

T-Birds, Thunderbirds...

Ethan Bear had two goals and three assists in Wednesday night’s Game 3 win. (Thunderbirds photo)

(Thunderbirds photo)

KENNEWICK, Wash. – Wednesday night’s Game 3 had all of the ingredients that the Tri-City Americans could have asked for to get back into their first-round playoff series with the Seattle Thunderbirds.

For starters, Seattle was without Ryan Gropp, their leading scorer from the regular season, after he took a high hit late in Game 2 from the Americans’ Dalton Yorke. As a result, Yorke was suspended for at least Game 3 and possibly more. In addition to missing Gropp, Seattle was still without Mathew Barzal and Rylan Toth.

The Americans, on the other hand, returned Vladislav Lukin, who missed Game 2, as well as Nolan Yaremko, who missed the first two games of the series and the final few games of the regular season.

All of those factors didn’t matter, however, as Seattle jumped out to an early lead in the first period and never looked back.

Just two minutes and 55 seconds into the first period, Ethan Bear launched a slap shot that beat Tri-City goalie Evan Sarthou low. It was actually Bear’s second shot, as his first was blocked at the blue line but he was able to regain control and put another on net.

Seattle would build on that lead, adding four more goals in the game’s first 20 minutes. Scott Eansor, Jarret Tyszka, Donovan Neuls and Austin Strand all scored goals for the T-Birds, with 10 different players finding the scoresheet. The team was led by Bear, who added two assists to his early goal to finish the first with three points.

Sarthou was pulled after Seattle’s third goal, just nine minutes and 44 seconds into the period. He was replaced by Rylan Parenteau, who started the first two games of the series, but Parenteau didn’t fare much better, giving up two goals of his own.

Tri-City, meanwhile, couldn’t seem to get anything going as they struggled to control the puck in the neutral zone and put together a sustained offensive effort. They mustered just five shots during the first period and only one of those felt like it really had much of a chance to find the back of the net.

“I thought the start was strong for us,” said T-Birds head coach Steve Konowalchuk. “Guys were ready to go and we got off to a quick start. Tri-City is a good team at home. You have to be ready.”

Neuls, who had a career high five points on one goal and four assists, echoed his coach’s thoughts.

“Our start was huge,” said the 19-year-old wing, who was promoted to play on the first line due to Gropp’s injury. “We wanted to get on them fast and play like we were in our building.”

Neuls, who found out yesterday that he’d be stepping up on to the first line, has been tasked for most of the series with shutting down Tri-City’s best scoring line. Tonight, he was asked to score some points of his own.

“Earlier in the year, Eansor, Volcan and Moilanen had some pretty good chemistry,” said Konowalchuk about his decision to promote Neuls. “It gave me an opportunity to get those three back together and Donny has been a wing most of his junior career so it worked out well.”

Seattle didn’t give Tri-City much of a chance to gain any life in the second period either. The first 14:57 of the second saw no scoring from either team, but Keegan Kolesar made it 6-0 Seattle after an impressive feed from Neuls in front of the Americans’ net that Kolesar was able to finish from a tough angle.

“We wanted to come out in the second and play the same way,” Konowalchuk said. “You want to try and be as consistent as you can and not worry about the score. Just try and play with really good habits.”

The Americans canceled rookie Carl Stankowski’s shutout bid when Austyn Playfair got Tri-City on the board a minute and 53 seconds after Kolesar’s goal.

Any life that may have given the Americans was quickly extinguished when Alexander True responded 17 seconds later to make it 7-1. Bear added his second of the game 87 seconds later to make it 8-1 before Morgan Geekie scored his first of the playoffs to cut the T-Birds’ lead to 8-2. It was Geekie’s first point of the playoffs after he had 90 points in 72 regular season games and was the Americans’ leading scorer.

“You don’t want to give them any life,” said Konowalchuk about responding quickly to the Americans’ first goal. “It’s playoff hockey and you just have to keep playing it out. They scored that first goal and then we came out the next shift and got a goal – that was big.”

The third period saw the T-Birds add one more on Strand’s second of the game. Stankowski had the second assist on the goal, giving him his first career WHL point.

Seattle has a chance to close out the series on Friday night in Tri-City. If they can, they would likely have at least one week to get healthy before a second round matchup with either Victoria or Everett.

Game Notes

• Neuls, Bear and Kolesar all set career highs with five points. Neuls and Kolesar each had one goal and four assists, while Bear had two goals and three assists.

• Victoria beat Everett 2-1 at home to tie the series 2-2, meaning the other playoff series in the U.S. Division bracket will go at least six games and require one more trip back up to Vancouver Island.

• Sami Moilanen and Jarret Tyszka both appeared to be shaken up late in the third period. Both were seen on the bench being attended to by Thunderbirds trainer Phil Varney. Their status for Friday night is unknown.

• Seattle has dominated in special teams through the series’ first three games. They have converted on seven of their 17 power plays, while allowing just one goal on 16 Tri-City man advantages.

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