Chiefs use big plays to slide by Thunderbirds 5-3
Dec 15, 2018, 8:38 AM
(Brian Liesse/T-Birds)
KENT – The Thunderbirds struggled with the end of periods Friday night against Spokane.
Seattle surrendered goals in the last minute of both the first and second periods and those scores would prove to be costly momentum changers. The goal at the end of the second period would be the back breaker and was a self-inflicted wound.
With the score tied at three and the puck behind the net, goalie Liam Hughes tried to play it but there was a mix up with his defenseman. That left the puck to squirt free and Spokane’s Eli Zummack picked it up and easily slid it in the empty net to make it 4-3.
The Chiefs would hang on to that lead and hand the Thunderbirds a 5-3 loss in front of 4,483 fans in the accesso ShoWare Center.
“It’s a concentration thing,” Seattle head coach Matt O’Dette said. “We practice that all the time, those goalie exchanges. There was a mix up.”
Spokane (18-11-2-2) was led by San Jose Sharks prospect Jake McGrew’s hat trick and 24 saves from goalie Bailey Brkin. McGrew would end the night by completing his second career hat trick with an empty netter in the last minute of the third period.
That also made it a hat trick of last-minute goals for a Chiefs team that moved to 3-0 against the Thunderbirds on the season.
Seattle (11-14-3-0) had another big night from captain Nolan Volcan as he added two goals off breakaways to try and will his club to a win.
The first-period late goal came with the score tied at one.
Spokane’s Luke Toporowski drove the puck deep and sent a perfect pass to a charging McGrew who tipped his first of the night over Hughes with exactly one minute left in the period.
The momentum from that goal carried over and McGrew would score again at 1:18 of the second period to put the Chiefs up 2-1. Volcan would then score his second goal of the night on a breakaway to tie the game at two.
It was Volcan’s fifth goal in two nights, 12th on the season, and he extended his point streak to 10 games. Both of his goals Friday night were similar. In the first period, he put Seattle on the board first with a short-handed marker after stealing the puck in the neutral zone. After McGrew got the equalizer on a Spokane power play, Volcan’s tying goal came on another breakaway, after another steal.
“I thought there were a lot of guys going and a select few that weren’t,” O’Dette said. “You need every body and we had guys that weren’t.”
Spokane out shot Seattle 15-7 in the second period and Adam Beckman would answer Volcan’s goal with a shot that went off a Seattle defender and past Hughes just over a minute later.
The Thunderbirds would bounce back however, and Payton Mount would bring them back when he fired his second of the year at 17:32 of the second.
That goal should have provided a big momentum boost going into the third period but the mix up behind the goal would give it right back to the Chiefs.
“We just weren’t good enough in crunch time,” Seattle’s Matthew Wedman said. “Can’t give up those big plays at the end of periods, those are the most important shifts.”
The Thunderbirds would push the pace somewhat in the third and get 13 shots on Brkin but weren’t able to get the game tied. McGrew would then put all doubt away with his empty net goal.
“I thought when we got into the O-Zone we were hemming them in there and creating some stuff in there,” O’Dette said to sum up the game. “We were tenacious on the puck once we got in the zone. We spent more time in their end, it was just the big plays again.”
O’Dette and the Thunderbirds were looking to sweep the three-in-three weekend and climb back to the .500 mark before the holiday break. Friday’s loss will keep them from being able to do so.
Still, they will look to finish the weekend strong when they head to Everett Saturday for a match up with the first-place Silvertips.
“Just got to bear down,” Wedman said. “We have 120 minutes of hockey left and we have to close it out.”
Notes
• Noah Philp was used sparingly Friday night. He didn’t take any shifts five-on-five and only skated during Seattle’s two power-play chances. O’Dette said that Philp was ‘banged up’ and that they would assess his status prior to Saturday’s game.
• Seattle was 0-for-2 on the power play while Spokane went 1-for-4.
• Of the eight goals scored Friday, five were unassisted and only five assists were recorded. Both of Volcan’s goals, Mount’s goal, Zummack’s goal and McGrew’s third goal came without an assist.