Second period penalties doom Thunderbirds against Tri-City

The game-winning goal wasn’t scored until the third period Friday night in Kennewick but the Seattle Thunderbirds lost the game in the second period.

It was during the middle twenty minutes that Seattle gave Tri-City six of the seven power-play chances it had. The Americans converted on one and scored a second goal just as another power-play was ending. It gave the home team the momentum that they would use to pick up a 5-2 win at the Toyota Center.

“Not a recipe to win on the road, to take six penalties in one period,” Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said. “I thought our first was OK, played a lot in their end and then the penalty barrage came in the second. We lost a lot of momentum. A lot of kills and it takes a lot of energy to do that and we didn’t have a lot of energy in the third to win the game.”

Seattle (5-6-2-1) struck first, in the second period, after one of those Americans penalties had expired. Defenseman Ryan Gottfried, who had been in the penalty box, stepped back on the ice and was behind the Tri-City defense. He snapped a shot past goalie Beck Warm for his first goal as a Thunderbird.

The Thunderbirds could not build any momentum off of that goal as they kept a beeline towards the penalty box for the rest of the period.

Tri-City (8-5-0-1) took advantage with an Edge Lambert power-play marker at 8:38 and again when Samual Stewart’s shot was deflected over Seattle goalie Roddy Ross just as a Tri-City power play ended. More importantly, it wore out Seattle’s top players and took away offensive flow.

The Americans ended the night 1-for-7 on the power play.

“They’re drawing penalties, they’re gaining momentum from it,” O’Dette said of the second period. “Our top guys are getting taxed. We could have done without those. Some of those penalties were preventable.

“Tripping, there’s some lazy type penalties, there’s an undisciplined penalty we didn’t need. It hurts the team.”

Andrej Kukuca would get Seattle square early in the third period with his sixth of the year, on the power play but Tri-City would take the lead for good just over a minute later. After a Ross save, one of 36 on the night, the puck was loose in the high slot.

The Thunderbirds weren’t able to locate and clear it which allowed for Paycen Bjorkland to swoop in and bury his fourth to put Tri-City ahead 3-2.

“It was bad shift,” O’Dette said. “Guys have to hold their own, win their shift and win their match up. That didn’t happen on that shift and I thought just a real let down of a game coming off a big road win. Didn’t have enough jam, enough energy, or tenacity. We need to play that way to give ourselves a chance every night.”

The Americans would add a pair of empty-net goals late to secure the victory.

Warm continued his mastery of the Thunderbirds by stopping 26 of the 28 Seattle shots he saw.

For the 20-year-old goaltender, it was his third win in as many games against Seattle this season. Versus the rest of the league, he has a 3-5-0-1 record.

“He’s a good goalie,” O’Dette said. “You’ve got to get traffic to have a chance to beat him. He just didn’t get tested enough tonight.”

Friday was the ninth time in Seattle’s 14 games that the Thunderbirds have failed to score more than three goals. It’s the third straight game where they scored just two as they continue to struggle to find offense.

There were chances on Friday.

Seattle had good looks early and in the second period, Matthew Wedman hit the post on a short-handed breakaway. Wedman did pick up an assist on the night to extend his point streak to five straight games but it wasn’t enough.

“It’s got to be other guys,” O’Dette said. “Can’t just be Wedman and (Henrik) Rybinski every night. Other guys have to chip in. We’re looking for somebody to establish that secondary scoring, be a second line player and so far it hasn’t been seized.”

The task won’t get easier for the Thunderbirds as they stay on the road for a Saturday night matchup in Portland with the red hot Winterhawks.

Portland took over the lead in the U.S. Division Friday night with a big road win in Everett and has won six of its last seven, a stretch where the only blemish was a shootout loss.

“We better bring a better game to the table tomorrow,” O’Dette said. “A good team that we’re going to face and the intensity is going to be ramped up. We have to be the one to dictate that intensity and play with more T-Bird identity.”

Game Notes

• Ross picked up an assist on the Gottfried goal in the second period. It was the first WHL point for the goalie.

• Reid Schaefer made his WHL debut for Seattle on Friday. The 16-year-old rookie did not figure in the scoring.

• Defenseman Hunter Donohoe is no longer on the Thunderbirds roster as he has been reassigned to Junior A. The team did not know yet what team he was headed to.

• Saturday’s game in Portland will be televised on JoeTv and will be the first of eight games between Seattle and the Winterhawks to be on television both in the Seattle and Portland markets.

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