Game 42: Thunderbirds blanked by Ams as losing streak in Kennewick reaches 20
Jan 17, 2012, 10:12 PM | Updated: Jan 18, 2012, 10:17 pm
By Mike Caccioppoli
(34-10) Tri-City Americans 4, (17-24-0-1) Seattle Thunderbirds 0
KENNEWICK- It is getting to the point where you have to wonder if the Thunderbirds should waste the gas, meal and hotel money they spend traveling to Kennewick. They have now lost 20 games in a row there after being blanked by the Americans tonight.
Ams took a 1-0 lead at 10:12 of the first period. Jesse Mychan scored his 6th goal of the season.
Just over a minute later Mason Wilgosh scored his 9th goal of the season to give Tri-City a 2-0 lead.
Seattle was down 2-0 after 20 minutes and were outshot 12-7.
The Americans went up 3-0 at 6:16 of the second period when Patrick Holland (19) scored on the power play.
Tri-City led 3-0 after two periods and were up 27-12 in shots.
Seattle had back to back power play chances in the third period and could not take advantage.
Justin Feser (22) scored the Ams second power play goal at 17:02 of the third period to put them up 4-0.
Seattle is shutout 4-0 and outshot 40-16.
Plus side:
None.
Minus side:
More D zone blunders. You just can’t make mistakes against a team as good as the Ams. You really can’t make them in your own end which is what the Birds do time and again.
Not exactly tape to tape. Some really bad passing by the Birds as they have trouble getting out of their own end and fail to make passes that would give them scoring chances.
Missed opportunities. Too many missed opportunities in front of the Ams net for the Birds. Rebounds they can’t get to and loose pucks they don’t bury. Konowalchuk has talked in the past about going hard to the net without the puck. You have to be willing to pay the price to do that and not enough Birds are willing to do that.
Penalty kill. After moving up to 15th in the league the Birds aren’t aggressive enough tonight and allow two power play goals on as many chances.
Killing me softly. The Ams seem to systematically tear the Birds apart. Most of the games between the two teams start OK for the Birds but then the Ams begin to slowly but surely take over play, usually by taking advantage of T-Bird errors while using their speed and superb puck movement to dominate.
Shutout. Seattle is shutout for the second time in the last three games and for the third time since the break (11 games).
Game Notes:
-F Jacob Doty was a healthy scratch for the second straight game.
–G Calvin Pickard drops to 0-14 in Kennewick.
-Seattle drops to 7-14 on the road. They are 1-5 against the Americans. (1-2 home, 0-3 road).
– Calvin Pickard drops to 17-20-0-1. Eric Comrie improves to 15-3.
Thunderbirds second half record: 4-7.
710Sports.com three stars:
First star: Patrick Holland (goal and assist)
Second star: Adam Hughesman (two assists)
Third star: Calvin Pickard (36/40 saves)
The Thunderbirds play Friday night at the ShoWare Center against the Kamloops Blazers. Game time is 7:35 pm and the action can be heard live at 710Sports.com
Game summary is on the WHL website.
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