Everett shuts out T-Birds 2-0 to snap six-game win streak

EVERETT – The Seattle Thunderbirds couldn’t score Saturday night and it cost them their six-game win streak.

Everett Silvertips goalie Carter Hart stopped all 32 shots he saw from the T-Birds to earn his second shutout of the season and pace the Silvertips to a 2-0 win. It was only the second regulation loss for Seattle this season as a couple mistakes cost them and they were unable to figure Hart out as the game wore on.

It wasn’t all bad for the T-Birds, who had a lot of the puck possession over the first two periods and ended up outshooting the Silvertips 32-24 for the game. It was a game where every mistake that Seattle made, Everett was able to capitalize on.

Despite having the better of play early on, the T-Birds would end up finding themselves trailing after two periods.

“I thought we had a lot of good chances in the second,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “If we get that goal and go 1-0 I think its a different game. We had a strong second and they get that shot from the point there that makes it 2-0 and then we were fighting an uphill battle.”

A turnover in the neutral zone led to the first Silvertips goal. Connor Dewar picked up the loose puck and had open ice ahead of him. Seattle goalie Logan Flodell made the save, but the rebound lay on the ice in front of him, and Dewar calmly lifted it up and over the T-Bird goalie.

Despite the 1-0 deficit, the T-Birds continued to generate chances, but Hart made some spectacular saves. Seattle was on the power play midway through the period and on three occasions looked like it had Hart down and out, but somehow he managed to shut the door each time.

“He was good,” Konowalchuk said of Hart. “In the second period he got some last second where I thought we did have some traffic. He got the blocker or glove on it last second that could have been goals.”

The Silvertips would cash in one more time before the period ended when Lucas Skrumeda flung a wrist shot from the point that found its way through traffic and past Flodell to make it 2-0.

Everett is one of the toughest defensive teams in the league and being down a pair of goals headed into the third period is not where you want to be. The Silvertips clamped down on Seattle over the final 20 minutes and it started to take its toll.

Seattle struggled to get anything going in the third period and began to turn the puck over and create odd-man rushes the other way. Flodell kept Seattle in it but it wasn’t able to get anything past Hart at the other end.

With their win streak snapped the T-Birds will regroup and try to get back to their winning ways. They’ve had a good stretch of hockey and Konowalchuk didn’t think there was any reason for alarm.

“We’ve played some pretty good hockey,” he said. “I thought yesterday was one of our better games and we slipped back a little bit. Give them credit, they came out with a game plan and battled the whole game.”

Seattle has a huge test in their next game on Tuesday night. The defending Eastern Conference champion Brandon Wheat Kings will come to the ShoWare Center for their lone visit this season. Brandon is off to an 8-1-0-2 start and is loaded with NHL prospects. Konowalchuk thought the game would be a good test for his club and is the last home game the team will play before embarking on an eight-game road swing.

Notes

• Saturday was the second time in Hart’s career that he has shut Seattle out. Last year he spoiled the T-Birds’ home opener by pitching a 1-0 white wash at the ShoWare Center. The 17-year-old goalie is one of the top goalie prospects for this June’s NHL Draft.

• Coming into the game the Silvertips boasted the league’s second most prolific power play. Seattle played with discipline, however, and only allowed Everett one power-play chance, which it did not score on. The T-Birds had their streak of six games with at least one power-play goal snapped. They were 0-for-2 on the night.

• Saturday night was Everett’s Pink the Rink night to raise money and awareness to breast cancer. A crowd of 7,311 people showed up, were loud, and the game had a definite playoff atmosphere to it.

• Tuesday’s game against the Wheat Kings will be a measuring-stick type game for Seattle. Brandon is the top scoring team in the league, already having potted 55 goals in 11 games, but also are stingy on defense. Last season the T-Birds handed them one of only three home regulation losses and you can bet the Wheat Kings want to return the favor.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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