Thunderbirds offense stays hot as they down Americans 8-5

The Seattle Thunderbirds hot offense struck again Friday night in their 8-5 win against the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.

Coming off a weekend where they scored 14 times in three games, the Thunderbirds put eight behind a pair of Americans goalies to win their second game in a row and third in the last four. The win moved Seattle four points ahead of Tri-City for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference and to within three of the Vancouver Giants for the first wild card.

Knowing it was a big, four-point swing game, Seattle (16-20-2-1) came out firing, scoring four times in the first period to open a 4-0 lead. The Thunderbirds were in control but Tri-City (13-19-4-1) kept lingering by scoring a couple of power-play goals and pulling to within three during the third period.

“I was really happy with the first period and the first little bit of the second,” Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said. “It’s similar to the (9-5 Dec. 27^th game against Spokane) when we went out to a 5-0 lead. Its junior hockey and it’s hard to keep the guys focused on the game plan and keeping everything the same and not cheating, thinking its point night. The other team has a natural push back and we left them in the game a bit by mismanaging the puck and taking penalties.”

It was point night for a number of players as some of the usual suspects had big games for the Thunderbirds.

Conner Bruggen-Cate extended his seven-game point streak with a pair of second-period goals, his ninth and tenth of the season. Andrej Kukuca scored his fifth goal in three games, tying him for the team lead with Keltie Jeri-Leon at 16 on the season. Jeri-Leon scored Friday as well to keep pace and rookie Conner Roulette added his 13th.

But, the tone of the game was set in the first period by Seattle’s fourth line.

Jared Davidson, Kai Uchacz, and Mekai Sanders helped score three of Seattle’s first-period goals. Davidson scored two of them while Sanders found the back of the net for his first WHL goal while adding an assist. Uchacz had a pair of assists as well and the three helped the Thunderbirds put the struggling Americans on their heels.

“They were really good, especially early, they won their matchups and got three goals in the first,” O’Dette said. “That’s what you look for in those guys, to bring some energy and they certainly did that.”

The line is young, led by Davidson, 17, who is in his second season while Sanders and Uchacz are both 16-year-old rookies.

Davidson scored first after a heavy forecheck in the Tri-City zone turned the puck over.

“He’s a guy that’s got some skill and has some sandpaper as well,” O’Dette said of Davidson. “He can play different styles and brings a little bit of everything to the table. You can see what he can do when offensively when he gets a chance.

“With him, and all those guys, it’s about the details and the little things, the habits that we’re looking for. I think, especially early, the good habits led to their scoring chances and the goals they did score.”

Sanders was playing just his fourth game in the WHL and scored his first on a quick snapshot from the slot.

After getting injured during the team’s first preseason game in September, the Gig Harbor native has spent most of the season rehabbing and watching games from the press box. He debuted with the Thunderbirds on New Year’s Eve and has looked better in each outing since.

“When he’s at his best he’s got a high motor, playing physical with tenacity,” O’Dette said. “That’s how those guys got those goals. A couple of games to get the rust off and then two great games from Mekai.”

The trend of scoring goals is a positive for the Thunderbirds.

In the team’s first 28 games they scored 65 goals for an average of 2.32 goals per contest. In the last 11 games, Seattle has more than doubled that per game average, scoring 4.45 goals per game.

It hasn’t just come from one player or one line, as was on display Friday night in Kennewick.

“It’s secondary scoring, other guys chipping in,” O’Dette said of his resurgent offense. “It was nice to see those guys get rewarded for some good work. It’s especially nice on the road when you don’t have those matchups. All your guys are chipping in and pulling the rope. It’s nice seeing the puck going in I think it gives the guys confidence.”

Friday’s game wasn’t clean.

The Americans scored three goals in the third – including a pair from Colorado Avalanche prospect Sasha Mutala —  to get to within three after Seattle built an 8-2 lead. They had the late momentum. Seattle gave Tri-City six power-play chances on the night which made things more trepidatious than perhaps necessary.

“It’s not keeping their focus on how we got the lead,” O’Dette said. “Maybe cutting some corners a little bit, mostly with the puck. We’re trying to make an extra play, a little bit too cute when we needed to get in. That led to some turnovers and momentum going the other way. That’s junior hockey but we’d like to close out the game more efficiently.

“It’s a learning process and I think we learned another lesson tonight about closing out teams and the things you need to do to preserve a lead. We’ll take those lessons and move forward.”

Game Notes

• The Thunderbirds play at home Saturday night against the Everett Silvertips, who were idle on Friday night. Normally the Thunderbirds would return home after the game but with poor road and weather conditions on Snoqualmie Pass, decided to stay in Kennewick Friday night and return home Saturday morning.

• Friday was the WHL trade deadline and the Thunderbirds made one move. The team traded 19-year-old forward Tyler Carpendale to the Kamloops Blazers for a conditional 2020 third-round pick. Carpendale has missed the entire season due to injury. The conditions surrounding the pick were not disclosed.

• Defenseman Simon Kubicek was back in the Thunderbirds lineup Friday night after returning from the World Junior Championships, where he played for the Czech Republic. He picked up an assist in the win.

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