Rockets overtime winner ties series with Thunderbirds

KENT – For the first time this postseason, the Seattle Thunderbirds are faced with having to bounce back from a loss.

After scoring twice in the third period to erase a two-goal Kelowna Rocket lead, Seattle fell in overtime 4-3 as Kelowna evened the series and stole home-ice advantage from the Thunderbirds.

Kelowna’s Reid Gardiner potted the game winner four minutes and 56 seconds into the overtime period for his second goal of the night. The Rockets also had a big game from Calvin Thurkauf, who added four assists, which included picking up a Seattle turnover and setting up Gardiner’s winner.

“The overtime games are definitely hard to lose,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “But I thought we did a lot of things well, we’ll correct some things and get back at ‘er.”

This was only Seattle’s second loss at home since Jan. 1 and the first defeat in the playoffs. The Thunderbirds were paced by three different goal scorers and 28 saves by rookie Carl Stankowski.

“We expect to go to Game 7 in every single series so we knew it wasn’t going to be easy,” Scott Eansor said. “They’re an excellent team and we just have to prepare for the next game.”

For the first time in the postseason, the T-Birds gave up the first goal.

It came after they failed to clear the zone and the Rockets got it to Nick Merkley, who was behind the Seattle defense. The Arizona Coyotes prospect made a nice move to get the puck past Stankowski for his fourth score of the playoffs.

Another Seattle turnover proved costly for Seattle late in the period.

While on the power play, the Thunderbirds coughed the puck up in their own end, where Thurkauf passed it to Gardiner in the slot and he buried a one-timer for his 14^th goal of the postseason. The goal came with less than a second left on the clock.

“I liked our first period,” Konowalchuk said. “We relaxed a second there on the power play and, at times, we’ve had some good fortune that way and this time it went against us. It turned out to be a big goal.”

It would be the largest deficit Seattle has faced all postseason.

Ethan Bear put the Thunderbirds back into the game early in the second period when he pinched in on a Seattle power play and knocked home a rebound to cut Kelowna’s lead to 2-1. It was the second goal in as many nights for Bear and his fifth in the playoffs.

Seattle ended the night 2-for-4 on power plays.

The late-period scoring trend continued in the second period as Cole Lind gave Kelowna its two-goal lead back when he scored from the slot on a Rockets power play. Kelowna ended the night by going 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

Seattle started the third period on a power play and Keegan Kolesar trimmed the deficit back to one when he slammed home a shot from the circle.

The T-Birds tied it on a Donovan Neuls goal in the third period after he buried a shot off a rebound at the side of the net.

With the score tied, the Rockets had several late scoring chances but Stankowski stood tall. The rookie netminder made 12 third-period saves, many of them off shots in close or on rushes. He gave his squad a chance to win by steering the contest into overtime.

“He was solid in that third period, no doubt,” Konowalchuk said. “We had to come up with some big kills there, they had us on our heels a bit.”

In overtime, another turnover did Seattle in and Gardiner took advantage.

As the Kelowna bench emptied onto the ice, the T-Birds skated off, tasting defeat for the first time in more than a month.

“We were playing really well as a team, we just didn’t get the win,” Eansor said. “It doesn’t happen sometimes and its hockey, shots were even, chances were even.”

So now Seattle will have to bounce back from a loss, something they haven’t had to do in a quite a while. However, the Thunderbirds have shown that they can do that, having lost back-to-back games since Dec. 28^th and 30^th.

They will have their work cut out for them as the Rockets are a strong team at Prospera Place.

“Short mindset,” Eansor said about recharging for Tuesday’s Game 3. “Focus on it for the next hour or two and then tomorrow we’ll forget about it.”

Notes

• Late goals have been the trend in this series. The first five periods saw goals scored in the last 30 seconds of play.

• Neuls ended the game with a goal and an assist to continue his scoring streak. He now has points in every playoff game for a total of six goals and 16 points.

• Gardiner continues his torrid playoff run for Kelowna. His two goals on Saturday give him 15 in 13 postseason games and he has 27 points to lead the WHL in playoff scoring.

• In the Eastern Conference Championship, the Regina Pats beat Lethbridge 3-2 on an overtime goal by Adam Brooks. That series is now even at one win apiece.

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