Americans hand T-Birds their second straight shutout loss

The Thunderbirds found themselves in Kennewick Friday night, and they again could not muster any offense as they were shut out by the Tri City Americans 4-0.

It was the second consecutive shutout thrown at the T-Birds, who have been out scored 10-0 in their last two games. Americans goalie Evan Sarthou stopped all 25 Seattle shots for his fifth shutout of the season, his second against Seattle and third in his last four starts. Offensively Tri City was paced by Parker Bowles, who had two goals in the win.

“We’ve got to get our minds right, more desperate to start the game,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said afterwards. “Some of our veteran players weren’t ready to start the game. We got behind and couldn’t dig ourselves out.”

The first period was not good for Seattle as it only mustered two shots and wasunable to sustain any offensive pressure. The two shots were from long range and not dangerous – Sarthou had an easy time to start. For Konowalchuk the lack of offense was again a testimony to the lack of desperation from his charges.

“We’re not desperate enough right now,” Konowalchuk said. “When you’re not desperate you don’t win enough battles and you’re not creating enough offense.”

The Americans would create some offense and got on the board midway through the first after Richard Nejezchleb made a nice play to take the puck out from behind the Seattle net. He had a lot of time as no defender challenged him and fed Beau McCue in the slot, who beat a helpless Taran Kozun.

In the second period the T-Birds took some undisciplined penalties, ones that Konowalchuk referred to as “not acceptable.” Bowles picked up his first goal on the power play at the 10:37 mark to make it 2-0, and then the T-Birds started to show frustration.

It started when Keegan Kolesar got mixed up with Parker Wotherspoon before a face off. Kolesar, frustrated, grabbed Wotherspoon’s stick and threw it to earn himself an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty. Less than a minute later Wotherspoon got under Shea Theodore’s skin and baited Seattle’s captain into a roughing penalty.

That gave Tri City a two-man advantage, and Bowles would strike again, beating Kozun through a screen to give Tri City a commanding three-goal lead. Kozun would take the loss and end the night with 20 saves.

Up until the game in Everett last Saturday the T-Birds had been playing with more discipline. They slipped in that area Friday and gave the Americans seven power-play chances – Tri City converted twice.

The third period saw the T-Birds generate a little bit more and they ended up out-shooting Tri City 15-8 in the final twenty minutes. They had their best chances and forced Sarthou to make his best saves late. They couldn’t get one past him, though, and would end up surrendering a late empty-net goal to Lucas Nickles to make it 4-0.

Since Seattle’s big win in Kelowna last Friday, the T-Birds have come out flat in two consecutive games. After playing well, they are now dealing with a bit of a bump in the road.

“There’s definitely a letdown for whatever reason,” Konowalchuk said. “The last period and a half against Everett and then this game here there’s been a letdown. I saw some spurts today where I thought it was getting back on track, but we’re not in the right mind frame and not working hard enough.”

Friday’s game marked the long-awaited return of center Mathew Barzal. Barzal last played on Nov. 4 but has been out since due to a knee injury. Despite being kept off the score sheet, Barzal looked like he hadn’t lost much of a step. He made several nice plays to set up his teammates and was a part of the few scoring chances Seattle did manage.

“Not too bad for the first game,” Konowalchuk said. “He missed a long time, he definitely has a bit to go. I liked his compete. He’s digging in there and it won’t take him long if he’s competing.”

Unfortunately for Seattle, not enough guys were digging in on Friday night. The T-Birds will have to shake off these last two losses quickly as they still have two more games this weekend. With no time to practice Konowalchuk will look to find some fire in his guys before Saturday night’s game against Portland.

“I’ll reanalyze the lines and our power play and pairings,” he said. “Just talk to the guys about getting going here, enough’s enough. It starts with our leaders, we’ve got to get back to the right mind frame.”

Notes

• The T-Birds played without Ryan Gropp on Friday. Gropp played on Thursday at the Top Prospects game and his flight was delayed by weather back in Ontario. Tri City’s Brandon Carlo, another participant in the Top Prospects game, also did not make it in time on Friday.

• Seattle had its own chances on the power play. The T-Birds had six opportunities to try and get some offense going but failed on all six.

• The back-to-back shutout losses is the first for Seattle since the 2005-2006 season when they were shut out by Kootenay 3-0 and Vancouver 4-0 in consecutive games. While some of the all-time records are incomplete, it appears that the Seattle franchise has never been shut out in three consecutive games.

• While Tri City pulled to within one point of the T-Birds in the U.S. Division Standings, Seattle did not lose ground to the team directly ahead of them. Spokane lost to Portland Friday night, so the T-Birds remain one point out of third place in the division.

• Saturday night’s game against Portland is Seattle’s annual Teddy Bear Toss game, where fans are encouraged to bring stuffed animals to throw onto the ice after the first T-Birds goal. The last three ‘Teddy Bear’ goals were scored by Shea Theodore, Roberts Lipsbergs and Connor Honey.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andyeide.

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