T-Birds notebook: Team gels while PK on fire

With the news Wednesday morning that Mathew Barzal was heading back to Seattle, the Thunderbirds are in a better place than they were a couple of weeks ago.

While Barzal will be a huge positive impact on the T-Birds offense, the team was starting to gel without him, winning five of their last eight contests heading into Friday night’s match up with the Calgary Hitmen.

When the season ends we may look back to the third period in Prince Albert last Wednesday night as a big turning point. Heading into that period the T-Birds were down 2-0 despite several squandered scoring chances. Not cashing in on chances had been killing Seattle in the season’s early goings and it felt like the team was headed for another frustrating effort.

The T-Birds exploded for five goals in that period and would win the game 5-2. After the game head coach Steve Konowalchuk talked about the team learning some ‘bigger picture lessons’. He was referring to the fact that the T-Birds were positive between periods in that game and never wavered from the game plan.

Its easy to get frustrated when you’re generating chances and coming up short. They didn’t allow that to sink them in Prince Albert and the five straight goals could end up paying dividends down the road. It capped off a successful road swing that saw them go 4-2 and play their best hockey to date.

So now Seattle returns home and will get their best player from last year back in the lineup. They should also get forward Keegan Kolesar back in the near future and it feels like the rest of the roster is ready to go. The timing may not have been better for the T-Birds.

Stay tuned to the blog as our Tim Pigulski will have reaction from Barzal coming over the next day or two.

Here’s the latest from the T-Birds:

Penalty kill is killing it

The T-Birds not only found some offense on their six-game road trip but they also found their penalty kill. After some early season struggles they are looking more like the unit that was the top killing unit in the league last season.

Since allowing two power-play goals to Everett on Oct. 15^th Seattle has killed off 27 of the last 30 power-plays they’ve faced. On the road trip you started to see them find their feet and get off their feet to block shots while killing off penalties.

The addition of Barzal will also help here as he was a key penalty-killer last season.

Berlin takes your breath away

The effort turned in last Saturday by goalie Matthew Berlin can’t be overlooked. Starter Rylan Toth had started every game on the road trip and with the team playing its fourth game in five nights, needed a day off. With rookie Carl Stankowski away from the team to compete for Canada at the U17 challenge, Berlin got the call.

He hadn’t played a game in over a month and a half and that was with a different team. After being traded from Spokane to the T-Birds, Berlin had been spending his time practicing with the team but not playing.

Not only did he get a win but he nearly shut out the Moose Jaw Warriors. He allowed one goal in the third period and made 29 saves to get his first win. The second period was his best as he made 14 saves and you could see his confidence between the pipes grow with each shot.

Konowalchuk mentioned how badly the team wanted to play well for him after the game which shows how much a guy who takes a lot of rubber in practice is appreciated and respected.

Weekend preview

After some long bus rides through the Canadian plains the T-Birds will play a couple of games in more familiar territory.

Friday night they will be back home to host the Calgary Hitmen at the ShoWare Center. Calgary has had an up and down start to the season but are coming to Seattle winners of three of their last four contests. They’ve struggled to score goals on a consistent basis and average under 2.5 per contest. Their power play is at the bottom of the league rankings with a 11.4 percent success rate so Seattle’s hot penalty kill should be able to continue its success. The Hitmen will be without their best player, defenseman Jake Bean, on Friday. The 13^th overall pick in last year’s draft is out four-to-six weeks with an upper-body injury.

Saturday the T-Birds will get back on the bus and head to Langley, British Columbia for their second meeting with the Vancouver Giants. The T-Birds beat Vancouver earlier in the season 4-2 behind two markers from Matthew Wedman. The Giants got off to a slow start but have been playing better of late. They’ve won six of their last 10 and Seattle will have to face them with their best player this time around. In the first meeting, captain Tyler Benson was still in camp with the Calgary Flames. He has since returned and is off to a great start with 17 points in 14 games.

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