A five-goal first period propels the Thunderbirds to third straight win

KENT – It took less than two minutes Friday night to find out if the holiday break stymied the momentum the Seattle Thunderbirds had going a week ago.

Henrik Rybinski scored twice for the Thunderbirds in the first 1:17 of the game, sparking an onslaught of goals that ended with Seattle skating off the ice after 20 minutes with a 5-0 lead against the Spokane Chiefs. The week off did Seattle good.

“Guys were alive and tons of energy on the bench,” Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said of the start. “Obviously that helps when you come out with that type of intensity. That first period, that’s how we have to play.”

Rybinski’s goals set the tone as Seattle (13-17-2-1) scored a season-high nine goals and held on to outlast Spokane (19-11-3-1) in a wild 9-5 affair at the accesso ShoWare Center.

The win was Seattle’s third straight, fourth in five games, and pulled the Thunderbirds even with the Tri-City Americans for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. It was an effort for Seattle that saw it get contributions up and down the lineup.

Rybinski had a big night by scoring twice with a pair of assists and 10 Thunderbirds recorded points. Keltie Jeri-Leon had five as he scored two goals and assisted on three more Seattle scores. Andrej Kukuca added a pair of scores to go with one helper and Conner Bruggen-Cate scored his fifth goal while setting up three more.

The Thunderbirds were able to roll all four lines and get contributions.

“Momentum is the biggest thing in this league,” Bruggen-Cate said. “It can make you win games and lose games. Having a shift before be a good one, like Rybinski’s line has a good shift and scores a goal then we go out there and we’ve got momentum, everybody is upbeat, and it builds.”

Rybinski’s first goal came 33 seconds into the game on a scramble play in front of Spokane goalie Campbell Arnold.  On his next shift, less than a minute later, he finished a slick passing play with Jeri-Leon and Conner Roulette.

Jeri-Leon and Roulette passed it back and forth before Roulette found a streaking Rybinski who tapped home his eighth goal of the season.

“It was a beautiful play; I don’t even know what to say,” Jeri-Leon said of the highlight-reel goal. “In the moment you’re just like ‘holy, we just did that’. It was awesome to score that, for sure.”

The two goals were the third in the last two games for Rybinski and the sixth in his last eight outings.

Early in the year the Florida Panthers prospect was creating chances but couldn’t buy a goal. He’s kept pushing and its starting to pay off.

“It’s just sticking to it and things will eventually go your way,” Rybinski said. “It’s also being at the right place at the right time with linemates feeding you. I’ve been shooting more but it’s just staying positive. I got lucky tonight.”

Rybinski’s line, with Jeri-Leon and Roulette combined for another big offensive output. In all, the trio scored five goals – all finding the net in the first period – and six assists.

The top line was cooking, and it had a positive effect on the rest of the team.

After Rybinski made it 2-0 early, Seattle would build a lead on goals by Kukuca, Roulette, and Jeri-Leon. They ended the first with a big lead and had outshot the Chiefs 17-11.

Spokane pushed back, scoring four times in the second as the Thunderbirds added two more off the sticks of Max Patterson and another from Kukuca. For the rest of the game, the Chiefs would score to cut the lead to three only to have Seattle answer right back to restore its four-goal advantage.

“It’s junior hockey and when you get a big lead like that you know the other team is going to have a push,” O’Dette said. “It’s a learning experience to keep the game plan the same and not change anything. I thought we bent a little bit there as they were pushing a little but maintained our composure and had some timely goals when they pushed.”

Friday night was a big test for the Thunderbirds who ended the break playing well, but then had nine nights off.

The team reconvened Thursday night for practice and the young Thunderbirds were able to reignite the fire.

“We reminded the team of how we were playing before the break and the formula that works for us,” O’Dette said of the message to the team. “By my count, that’s eight solid games that we’ve played in a row, not the results every single time but we played our style and the T-Birds identity was there the last eight games. One game at a time and we just have to duplicate that night in and night out.”

Seattle’s young players had not experienced the challenge of coming back off a break. The veterans who have helped out.

Bruggen-Cate, 20, has been through it in the league and knows how to keep sharp while at home for the holidays.

“We all talked about making sure you’re in the gym,” he said. “Staying is as good of shape as you can, that can be tough with big dinners and stuff. Just coming back yesterday and this morning, we skated before the game, we had two solid skates, and everybody was excited to be back.”

The Thunderbirds will try to make it four straight wins Saturday night when they host the Portland Winterhawks.

“We’re vibing in there, everybody is happy and smiling,” Jeri-Leon said. “We’re having fun and that’s a big thing. We’ve won three in a row now, so we’ve just got to keep going. Everybody is buying in and that’s the key to our success.”

Game Notes

• Blake Lyda got the start in net for Seattle on Friday and picked up the win. O’Dette said that he wanted to get both goalies into action early on after the break and with two games against Portland in the next four days, saved Roddy Ross.

• Spokane’s Arnold suffered an injury after Rybisnki’s second goal early in the first period. He had to be helped off the ice, favoring one leg, and did not return to the game. He was replaced in goal by rookie Brett Balas.

• Jeri-Leon, 19, set a career-high with five points in a game and has 12 goals and 21 points on the season, all of which are career bests.

• The Chiefs’ Adam Beckman came into Friday tied for the league lead in scoring. He picked up a goal and assist in the loss and in his last three games at the ShoWare Center the Minnesota Wild prospect has scored six goals and 10 points.

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