Everett Silvertips blast weary Thunderbirds 6-0

A night after an impressive win in Kelowna, the T-Birds played flat and were shut out by the Everett Silvertips 6-0 at a sold out XFINITY Arena.

BY ANDY EIDE

Jan 17, 2015, 11:30 PM Updated: Jan 19, 2015, 4:56 pm

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EVERETT – After a long bus ride, the Thunderbirds rolled into Everett at 5 a.m. Saturday, and they would leave their game in the hotel.

A night after an impressive win in Kelowna, the T-Birds played flat and were shut out by the Everett Silvertips 6-0 at a sold-out XFINITY Arena.

Everett scored twice in the second period to take over the game, and the T-Birds could not recover. The Silvertips picked up goals from six different scorers and goalie Austin Lotz made 31 saves in picking up his fourth shutout of the year.

Seattle started the game in good shape. The two teams played an entertaining, up-and-down first period with both teams generating a couple of good scoring chances. Neither team was able to score and it looked like it was going to be another tight Everett-Seattle match up.

Despite not scoring, Seattle (22-17-2-3) outshot the Silvertips in the first and seemed to show no ill effects of the long bus ride the night before.

“Our guys prepared themselves,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “Good first period. It was a typical period we play against these guys.”

Things changed in the second, though, as the Thunderbirds had sand in their legs and they started to stand around too much as well as get into penalty trouble.

Everett (27-12-3-1) got on the board when Jake Mykitiuk deposited his own rebound past goalie Taran Kozun. It was the second goal of the year and second in as many nights for the former Prince George Cougar.

It was the first time in four games that the T-Birds failed to score first and it took some steam out of the their sails. The rest of the steam would evaporate by the end of the period.

Everett was on its third power play of the period when Carson Stadnyk found Ivan Nikolishin with a backdoor pass for an easy goal. It was Nikolishin’s 10th goal of the year and it put the T-Birds in a hole heading into the final frame. Offensively Seattle could get nothing going, and it struggled breaking out of its own end and did not manage the puck well in the neutral zone – all recipes for disaster against a tough defensive club like Everett.

“Second period they were better than us,” Konowalchuk said. “It started a little slowly but then they get the goals and we started forcing things in the neutral zone. We started to lose some energy.”

The Silvertips are one of the toughest teams to come back on, and coming into the game they were 23-3-1-0 when leading after two periods. Last season the T-Birds managed two third-period comebacks against Everett, but they would need to find some energy if they wanted to do it again Saturday.

Any hope of that evaporated quickly, when Kozun lost sight of the puck behind the goal 40 seconds into the third. Stadnyk got it to Kohl Bauml, who fired it past Kozun from a sharp angle. Just like that, the hole got deeper for Seattle.

“It snowballed,” Konowalchuk said. “Especially against that team, they’re good with the lead … We showed some frustration there that we’ve got to get back and clean up. We didn’t play 60 minutes.”

With the T-Birds out of gas and behind by three goals, things got worse. The T-Birds took two more penalties in the third and gave up three more goals as Nikita Scherbak, Dawson Leedahl and Stadnyk all were allowed to freewheel in the Seattle end and score.

After the Leedahl goal made it 5-0, Konowalchuk mercifully sent Danny Mumaugh in the game for relief. Kozun played better than the final score suggested and made 28 saves on the night. It was only his second regulation loss in his last ten starts.

After four games where Seattle showed a lot of discipline and only went short handed seven times, it gave Everetty five power plays on Saturday. Two of Everett’s six goals came with the man advantage, something that has led to trouble for Seattle at times this season.

It’s a tough chore after a lengthy bus ride to have to take on one of the top teams in the league, but Konowalchuk wasn’t willing to use that as a reason for the loss.

“There’s no excuse,” he said. “We were ready to play in the first period. We just didn’t stick to the game plan. We’ve got to make sure we’re better for 60 minutes.”

If you had looked ahead at this weekend’s schedule – with road games against the top two teams in the Western Conference – you would think that the T-Birds would be happy with a split. After beating Kelowna, however, Seattle was hoping for more and Saturday was a disappointment.

“It’s two really good teams,” Konowalchuk said about Kelowna and Everett. “I think more than anything it’s just a really frustrating second half to the game more than not getting the points.”

Seattle remains one of the hottest teams in the league with a 9-2-0-1 record over its last 12 games. With a week off to recover from Saturday’s blowout, it’s time to look forward.

“We’re not going to panic,” Konowalchuk said. “We just get back to basics and worry about the next game. We’ll get back to where we were. It’s not like it’s gone very far, it was there in the first period and we played pretty good hockey the night before. We’ll get back to work.”

Seattle will next play Friday in Kennewick against the Tri City Americans.

Notes

• Saturday was the second time this year that Everett has shut out Seattle. Rookie goalie Carter Hart blanked the T-Birds 1-0 on Sept. 20 in Seattle’s home opener. The T-Birds have also been shut out by Vancouver and Portland.

• Seattle only drew one penalty on Everett to their five against. This should come as no surprise as the Silvertips are the least penalized teams in the WHL and have only been short handed 131 times on the year.

• The six goals allowed by Seattle ties a season-high. They previously had given up six to Kelowna early in the year and Moose Jaw on the road. The six-goal margin of defeat is the worst the T-Birds have suffered on the season.

• Seattle is back home next Saturday against Portland for the annual Teddy Bear Toss night.

Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.