T-Birds come up short in 3-2 shootout loss to Prince George

KENT – With the wind howling outside the ShoWare Center Friday night, the Thunderbirds were blowing a lead on the ice inside.

After going up 2-0 in the second period the T-Birds got into some penalty trouble and allowed the Prince George Cougars to tie the game up and go on to win 3-2 in a shootout.

Seattle got goals from Nolan Volcan and Sami Moilanen but came up just short in another game where they played well for large stretches of the contest. Prince George’s Jesse Gabrielle scored a goal and added an assist to pace the Cougars to their ninth win of the season.

“For 50 minutes I thought we played a pretty good game,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “Trying to do what we are trying to do, we came up a little short again.”

For the second straight game the T-Birds generated a number of chances, possessed the puck but couldn’t get enough shots past Prince George goalie Ty Edmonds, who ended the night with 22 saves. After dropping a close one to Spokane on Tuesday, Seattle (2-3-0-1) is still searching for a full 60-minute effort.

“I thought we had our chances,” Volcan said. “Obviously didn’t bury as many as we wanted to but that will come.”

Volcan got the scoring going for Seattle in the first period when he forced a turnover at the Prince George blue line. Matthew Wedman picked up the loose puck and got it back to Volcan at the circle to Edmonds’ left where he would score his second goal of the season.

The T-Birds would extend the lead 20 seconds into the second period on the power play when Ryan Gropp got the puck to Moilanen in the slot. The Finn beat Edmonds for his first WHL goal.

It’s the third straight game with a point for Moilanen and he was the best player on the ice Friday. He seems to have figured out the North American game, plays hard, is not afraid of contact and is providing a lot of good offense for Seattle.

“He’s got skill but he works hard,” Konowalchuk said. “He’s tenacious and he’s quick and gets in the dirty areas and it feels like he’s on the verge of getting a couple more.”

Moilanen could have had more on Friday. Late in the second period he blew by the Prince George defense and had Edmonds beat but the puck caught the post and rebounded out of harm’s way. It was that kind of night for Seattle.

After taking the two-goal lead the T-Birds got away from their game plan a bit, took penalties and paid for it.

Gabrielle would cut the Seattle lead to 2-1 nine minutes after Moilanen’s marker with a power-goal goal of his own. The Cougars would go on to tie it a few minutes later with another power-play tally. This time by Jansen Harkins who glided into the high slot and scored on a wrist shot.

“When we scored that second goal we got a little bit cute with the puck a couple of times,” Konowalchuk said. “That allowed them to have a little bit of momentum that they created the power plays. For that ten minutes there, they scored those goals and that was the reason we came away with one point.”

The T-Birds got back to their game in the third period, but like it did on Tuesday against Spokane, couldn’t convert.

Seattle’s rookie goalie Carl Stankowski made his first home start and made 22 saves on the night. He made his best saves in the third period to keep the game even.

The game would go into overtime and Seattle had a golden chance with a four-on-three power-play but again couldn’t convert. Stankowski got it to a fourth shooter but was beaten by Cody McDonald to give Prince George (9-2-0-0) the win.

With the loss, the T-Birds are still looking for some goal scoring consistency. They’ve been coming close and it feels like the goals may start coming.

“I think goals will come,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s about playing the right way, sticking with it. Still, maybe shoot a little bit more, think shots, but we’ll take the positives out of there. The goals will come.”

The T-Birds will get no rest as they’ll travel up I-5 to Xfinity Arena Saturday night to face the Everett Silvertips at 7 pm.

Notes

• Seattle continues to shuffle it’s four 20 year old players in and out of the lineup. With Stankowski getting the start, Rylan Toth was a scratch which allowed Cavin Leth to get back into the lineup. It’s a tough situation as one of the four over-agers will have to be moved soon. “Its hard,” Konowalchuk said. “We value all of them. They’re good quality people and good quality players so it’s tough but we have focus on winning hockey games.”

• Last year the T-Birds enjoyed one of the best home ice advantages and had a league-best 29-5-2-0 record. This year they have started the season 1-2-0-1 to start their home schedule this year.

• The T-Birds had trouble with the penalty kill earlier in the season and Friday night allowed two more power-play goals on four Prince George tries. Seattle has allowed 22 goals so far and nine have come off of the power-play.

• On the other side of things, the T-Birds still are struggling somewhat on the power play themselves. They scored one on Friday but overall were 1 for 5 and now are dead last in the league with a miniscule 8 percent success rate.

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