Kolesar overtime goal gives Seattle its sixth straight win

KENT – The Seattle Thunderbirds keep finding ways to win.

They found themselves tied with the Kamloops Blazers in overtime Tuesday night and nearly got scored on. Goalie Rylan Toth gloved a shot and instead of holding it, he decided to play the puck.

It slid out to a Blazers’ stick and if not for a sprawling Ethan Bear, the game might have been lost right there. Instead, Bear got a piece of it and up to Keegan Kolesar who was off on a ice-long breakaway. He moved in on Kamloops’ goalie Connor Ingram, fought off a hook, faked a shot and slid the puck in to give Seattle a 4-3 win.

It was Kolesar’s second goal of the night and 12^th of the year and moved Seattle into sole possession of second place and to within six behind first place Everett.

“Bearsy had a great sell out there and I just shot out like a bullet out of a gun,” Kolesar said. “Found my chance. I’ve tried everywhere with (Ingram) and I thought ‘try and fake the shot and see what happened’. He gave me the right side and I was able to put it away.”

Kolesar wasn’t the only T-Bird who had tried everywhere on Ingram.

The Blazers’ netminder, who had played for Team Canada during the World Juniors, was spectacular on Tuesday. He stopped 54 Seattle shots and for a long time looked like he was going to steal a win.

“If he can see it, he’ll save it,” Kolesar said. “He’s a really good goalie and our main focus was to get traffic on him and get as many bodies as we can in the crease.”

The last time the T-Birds faced Ingram he stopped 52 shots on Nov. 30^th and beat Seattle in overtime. Seattle almost repeated that performance but found a way to get the win to make it six in a row as their second half surge continues.

The T-Birds came out firing the puck on Tuesday, taking the contest’s first 18 shots. Ingram stopped them all however and the teams ended the first period scoreless.

“You come out and you’re jumping, puck possession, you’re drawing power plays,” Konowalchuk said of the start. “We didn’t get the goal but it sure sets the tone. More often than not you’ll get a goal when you come out like that.”

Seattle ended up outshooting Kamloops 21-6 and built up some frustration.

“It’s hard,” Kolesar said. “You come out in the first period with so many shots. You come back to the dressing room, yelling at yourself, yelling at teammates, breaking your stick because nothing is going in for you. The guys found a way to regroup and get the two points.”

Despite the lopsided shot total, the Blazers would get on the board first, in the second period, when Devon Sideroff found the top corner of the Seattle goal off the rush. It was starting to look like Ingram would make that one goal stand as the teams headed into the third period.

Seattle would score on a goal that was initially waived off. After a mad scramble in front of Ingram, Bear poked the puck in but the net came off its moorings. The official on the scene waived the goal off and skated over to talk to the video review booth. A quick review showed the puck was in the net before the net came loose and it counted for Bear’s 18^th goal of the season.

The Blazers would then take the lead right back on a power-play goal from Bauer, who picked up a loose puck in the slot and beat Toth up high. Toth ended the night with 22 saves for his 25^th win of the year.

Seattle would get things even late, when Kolesar had a rebound come to his stick and he swept it into a wide open net to tie the game at two.

“That was a gift,” Kolesar said. “I was shocked that I even had that.”

The T-Birds took their first lead with just under three minutes left on a Sami Moilanen deflection that went up and over Ingram. That made it 3-2 and it looked like Seattle was going to escape with a regulation win.

Bauer would score his second for the Blazers however, to tie the game at 3 with just over a minute to go. That would set up the overtime dramatics and give the T-Birds 12 wins in their last 13 games.

“They went out in the third and just kept going,” Konowalchuk said. “Again you’re winning from behind, sometimes you have to play with a lead. Tonight we had to beat a goalie that was hot early on and we finally got some goals in the third.”

Notes

• In two games against Seattle this season, Ingram has stopped 106 Seattle shots. Thanks to a quirk in the schedule, Seattle’s next game will be at home Friday, against Ingram and the Blazers. “We can’t worry about him too much,” Konowalchuk said. “We have to keep putting pucks, from all angles on the net. There are rebounds there and that’s how we got our goals.”

• Kolesar’s goal was his second overtime winner that came on a breakaway. On Jan. 14^th he beat Everett and Carter Hart with a similar play. He was hooked on the play and a penalty shot would have been awarded had he not scored.

• Turner Ottenbreit had three assists for the T-Birds on Tuesday, the second time this year he has accomplished that.

• While Seattle’s next game is against Kamloops, the Blazers will play Portland on Wedensday so the T-Birds should have the advantage of rest.

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