Game 30:Thunderbirds struggles against Americans continues

(18-10-1-1)Tri City Americans 5,(13-10-3-4)Seattle Thunderbirds 1

Lockhart with a goal…Tri-City gets 10 power play chances for second straight game

KENT–Seattle drops another lopsided affair to the Americans.

Tri-City scored almost as quickly as they did in last night’s contest to grab a 1-0 lead. It was a power play goal at the 2:07 mark off the stick of Patrick Holland (11). The penalty that gave Tri-City their first power play was a Hooking call on Dave Sutter at 1:58.

The Thunderbirds would get their first power play chance at 5:10. Brooks Macek was called for Tripping. The Birds did not score and got two shots on net. The Ams went up 2-0 when a giveaway in their own zone caused a breakaway and Jordan Messier (17) shot one past Michael Salmon (0-1-1-0). The goal was scored at 8:30. Messier (18) scored another goal just 11 seconds later to give the Ams a 3-0 lead prompting Rob Sumner to take call a time out to address his team.

Justin Hickman was called for Cross Checking at 10:57 and the Ams took advantage when Justin Feser slapped in his 10th goal of the season to put the Ams up 4-0 at the 12:28 mark.

Brenden Dillon and David Conrad dropped the gloves with 3:44 left in the first period with Dillon pummeling Conrad against the boards for about 30 seconds. The Birds went on the power play for the second time when Sam Grist was called for Elbowing at 17:09. The Birds did not convert and put no shots on net.

The Ams were up 4-0 after 20 minutes and led in shots 19-7.

Of all the bad starts the Birds have had this was their worst especially considering that the Ams were stuck on the passes heading into Seattle and were nearly an hour late, pushing the game start back to 7:50. The Birds looked like the team that was stuck on the passes.

Sutter took his second penalty of the night at 2:05 of the second period and the Ams had their third power play of the game. They did not convert.

Hickman went to the box for the second time on a Cross Checking call at 4:33 so the Ams went back to the power play. The Birds killed it off and the Ams were at 2 for 4 on the power play.

At the 13:28 mark Colin Jacobs was called for Tripping and that was the only penalty called even though Jacobs was flattened in retaliation. So the Ams went on their fifth power play and the Birds killed it off.

After not calling a fairly obvious infraction against the Ams behind their net, referee Matt Kirk called Mitch Elliot for Roughing at the 18:11 mark. It was the Ams sixth power play opportunity. The final 11 seconds carrying over to the third period.

The Ams led 4-0 after two periods and they also led in shots, 26-18.

The Ams went up 5-0 with a goal off an offensive zone face-off scored by Mason Wilgosh (6) at 3:58.

The Birds went on the power play at 4:54 when Zachary Yuen was called for Holding. The Thunderbirds finally got on the board when Luke Lockhart (12) knocked one past Drew Owsley (15-9-0-1) to make it a 5-1 game. The goal was scored at 5:29. The goal was assisted by Dillon and Burke Gallimore.

Travis Toomey went to the penalty box at 6:22 when he was called for Interference. It was the Ams seventh power play of the game and the Birds killed it off. Toomey went right back to the box at 9:07 for Slashing and the Ams had their eighth power play. The Ams got a five on three chance a minute later when Brendan Rouse was called for Slashing. The Birds were able to kill off both penalties and Tri was 2 for 9 with the man advantage.

With just over eight minutes left in the third, Tri-City changed goalies as Chris Driedger took over for Owsley.

Sam Grist took two minutes for Roughing at 13:38 and the Birds went on the power play. They did not convert and were 1 for 4.

Chance Lund and Brock Sutherland each got five minutes for Fighting with 3:26 remaining in the game. With 39 seconds left Jacob Doty was called for Slashing and the Ams went on their 10th power play for the second consecutive game. It was killed off and the Ams went 2 for 10 on the night.

The Birds would go on to lose 5-1 as they continue to struggle against the Americans. Shots were 33-26 in favor of Tri-City.

With the Americans being stuck on the passes heading over to Kent due to bad weather it would figure that the Birds would have an advantage in the first period but of course it didn’t turn out that way. “I don’t know if it has anything to do with it or not,” said Sumner. “We made some mistakes early, we put Mike in a tough spot or two and then the roof kind of fell in a bit in the first. I though we had a good second and third period. We need better first periods.”

For the second straight night the penalties were lopsided. In the two games combined the Americans had 20 power plays to the Birds seven. Sumner was asked about the huge disparity. “Some nights, especially against on offensive skilled team you will take penalties. That’s not the way I saw it these last couple of nights. I thought there were some really tough calls against us.”

Even though the Birds played better in the second and third period Sumner acknowledged that his team can’t get in such a big hole against a good team like the Americans. “It is..it’s a pretty big hole early.” He also admitted that it’s not what the team wanted to do in front of goaltender Michael Salmon in his first start filling in for Calvin Pickard. “It’s a tough spot to put him in, it wasn’t what we had in mind for the first period.”

The Birds will now have to face arguably the hottest team in the league, the Spokane Chiefs for a home and home beginning Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center. Sumner knows that it’s another big challenge for his team. “Yes.. we are in the middle of a tight conference, it doesn’t get easier.”

That game can be heard at MyNorthwest.com beginning at 7 pm. Pre-game is at 6:30 with Thom Beuning and Bruce McDonald.

Game Notes:

– The Thunderbirds loss is their fifth straight at home and they are now below .500 at the ShoWare Center at 4-5-1-2.

-Seattle has been out shot in 24 of 30 games.

– The Thunderbirds record against U.S. Division rivals drops to 4-5-0-3.

– F Justin Hickman was back in the lineup as F Connor Sanvido was a healthy scratch.

-Seattle was 1 for 4 on the power play, the Americans were 2 for 10.

Scoring Summary:

1st Period-1, Tri-City, Holland 11 (Macek, Prokop), 2:07 (PP). 2, Tri-City, Messier 17 8:30. 3, Tri-City, Messier 18 (Prokop, Yuen), 8:41. 4, Tri-City, Feser 10 (Shinnimin, Macek), 12:28 (PP). Penalties-Sutter Sea (hooking), 1:58; Macek T.c (tripping), 5:10; Hickman Sea (cross checking), 10:57; Conrad T.c (major-fighting), 16:16; Dillon Sea (major-fighting), 16:16; Grist T.c (elbowing), 17:09.

2nd Period- No Scoring.Penalties-Sutter Sea (checking from behind), 2:05; Hickman Sea (cross checking), 4:33; Jacobs Sea (tripping), 13:28; Elliot Sea (roughing), 18:11.

3rd Period-5, Tri-City, Wilgosh 6 (Shinnimin), 3:58. 6, Seattle, Lockhart 12 (Dillon, Gallimore), 5:29 (PP). Penalties-Yuen T.c (holding), 4:54; Toomey Sea (interference), 6:22; Conrad T.c (10-minute misconduct), 9:07; Sohor T.c (roughing), 9:07; Gallimore Sea (10-minute misconduct), 9:07; Toomey Sea (slashing, roughing), 9:07; Rouse Sea (slashing), 10:08; Grist T.c (roughing), 13:38; Sutherland T.c (major-fighting), 16:34; Lund Sea (major-fighting), 16:34; Doty Sea (slashing), 19:21.

Shots on Goal-Tri-City 19-7-7-33. Seattle 7-11-8-26.

Power Play Opportunities-Tri-City 2 / 10; Seattle 1 / 4.

Goalies-Tri-City, Owsley 15-9-0-1 (25 shots-24 saves); Driedger 1-1-0-0 (1 shots-1 saves). Seattle, Salmon 0-1-1-0 (33 shots-28 saves).

A-3,577

Referees-Matt Kirk (4).

Linesmen-Zach Brooks (26), Chris Carlson (92).

mike.caccioppoli@yahoo.com