Everett ends Thunderbirds win streak in lopsided affair
Jan 19, 2020, 8:40 AM
(Christopher Mast/Silvertips)
EVERETT – The Seattle Thunderbirds four-game win streak came to an end with a thud Saturday night at Angel of the Winds Arena.
The home-standing Silvertips controlled the puck and the momentum from the start to skate away with an easy 8-0 win over the Thunderbirds.
“I felt like we were chasing the game the whole night,” Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said. “Didn’t have an opportunity to establish our game plan. It wasn’t our night.”
Everett (28-11-2-1) snapped a two-game losing streak against the Thunderbirds thanks to a pair of goals from both Gage Goncalves and Jake Christiansen along with four points from Jackson Berezowski. Silvertips goalie Dustin Wolf picked up his sixth shutout of the season but was barely tested by a lackluster Thunderbirds offensive effort.
Wolf only had to make 14 saves on the night as the Silvertips enjoyed a 43-14 shots on goal advantage.
“We knew it was going to be tough environment tonight, we’ve seen it many times,” O’Dette said. “We needed a better start and needed to do what we needed to do to not fuel their momentum and their crowd. And we didn’t do that.
“We need to get pucks below their goal line and make them defend and that quiets the building down, extends O-Zone time for us. We just didn’t do that.”
Seattle (18-20-2-1) started slowly and never found its energy.
Max Patterson was whistled for a penalty on the first shift and that set the tone for the night. In the first period, the Silvertips controlled the puck with a 30-19 shot attempt lead.
The Thunderbirds were in scramble mode, chasing the puck and it resulted in a 2-0 lead on goals by Ty Kole and Hunter Campbell.
It was the third straight game that the Thunderbirds started slowly but unlike the previous two, they were not able to change the momentum and get their game plan implemented. Everett opened the second period with two goals in the first five minutes to double its lead to 4-0 and put Seattle in a hole it could not climb out of.
“They’ve got good speed and good players and forced some of our mistakes,” O’Dette said. “We’ve got to slow them down. I thought we got into an up and down game too much. Their D are very involved, and we were unable to contain them.”
Roddy Ross got the start for the Thunderbirds but was replaced by rookie Thomas Milic after the Silvertips made it 5-0 in the second period. He ended the night with 19 saves in what was his toughest outing in Everett this season.
In his previous two starts on the road against the Silvertips he only allowed one goal in regulation and one in overtime.
Milic, playing in only his second WHL game, allowed three goals on 16 Everett shots.
The good news for the Thunderbirds is that the loss didn’t cost them in the Western Conference playoff race as Tri-City lost and Prince George was idle. Seattle maintains a six-point lead over Tri-City for the second wild-card slot.
They did blow a chance to extend that lead in the standings, however.
“I’m surprised, I’m disappointed,” O’Dette said. “We’ve got better than what we showed tonight. They were mad from us beating them two games in a row and they came out and took it to us. Now it’s our turn to respond.”
The Thunderbirds won’t have to wait long to respond as they will host Everett at the accesso ShoWare Center Sunday afternoon.
Seattle had seven rookies in its lineup Saturday and the blow out loss should be a hard lesson to learn. The Thunderbirds have been here before during the season and have shown an ability to wipe out a bad loss with a bounce-back effort.
They’ll need it Sunday.
“We’ve faced many character situations where we needed a character response and we’ve risen to the challenge,” O’Dette said. “We get these guys again, thankfully, in less than 24 hours and we got a chance to show what we are made of.”
Game Notes
• With the loss, Seattle’s record against Everett falls to 2-2-1-0.
• Saturday was the second time Seattle has been shutout this season. The previous shutout loss was also to Wolf and the Silvertips, back on Oct. 12 when the Silvertips won 1-0 in overtime.
• The Thunderbirds had a couple of point streaks stopped Saturday. Keltie Jeri-Leon had a six-game point streak and Conner Roulette had a four-game streak coming into the game. Both were stopped in the loss.