T-Birds fall 5-1 to Everett to close out preseason
Sep 16, 2017, 9:26 PM
In their final tune-up game before their season opener next Saturday, the Thunderbirds fell to the Everett Silvertips 5-1. Seattle finishes the preseason with a 1-6-0-0 record.
Everett scored the only goal of the first period on a wrist shot by Montana Onyebuchi. The big defenseman fired a shot from the right point that snuck just inside the right post and over the blocker of T-Birds goaltender Cole Schwebius. Dawson Butt provided the screen that made it difficult for Schwebius to follow the puck off of Onyebuchi’s stick. Bryce Kindopp had the only assist.
The T-Birds outshot the Silvertips 9-6 in the first period.
Everett appeared to take a 2-0 lead on a bad line change by Seattle as Sean Richards cut in front of Schwebius all alone and roofed a backhand midway through the second period, but the goal was reversed as the Silvertips’ Matt Fonteyne was called for slew-footing and assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct.
The ‘Tips took the two-goal lead for real with 31 seconds left on Fonteyne’s major as Orrin Centazzo beat the T-Birds’ defense to a loose puck in the Seattle zone, slapping at the puck with his backhand and sending it past Schwebius.
Everett extended their lead to three after Reece Harsch was called for a slashing penalty. On the ensuing faceoff, Seattle struggled to clear the puck out of their own zone and saw it end up on the stick of Brandson Hein, who shot the puck over a sprawling Schwebius.
The Silvertips outshot Seattle 15-10 in the second period, giving them a 21-19 lead through 40 minutes.
Butt added a fourth goal for the Silvertips with 14:58 remaining the third period. Butt skated through the slot, forcing Schwebius to move to his right, before firing a backhand across his body that Schwebius was unable to get back across his crease to retrieve.
Riley Bruce scored Everett’s final goal of the evening to make it 5-0 with 6:35 left in the contest.
The T-Birds got on the board late in the third period on a slap shot by Reece Harsch to prevent the shutout. It was Harsch’s first goal of the preseason. Matthew Wedman and Noah Philp had the assists.
Everett outshot Seattle 8-4 in the third period and 29-23 for the game.
Seattle will open the regular at home at the accesso ShoWare Center next Saturday versus the Tri-City Americans. They will raise both their Western Conference Champion and Western Hockey League Champion banners prior to the game.
