T-Birds end road trip with sluggish 2-1 loss

The Thunderbirds ended their six-game road trip by losing a second straight 2-1 decision.

BY ANDY EIDE

Nov 16, 2014, 8:22 PM Updated: 11:11 pm

The Thunderbirds ended their six-game road trip by losing a second straight 2-1 decision. Sunday afternoon it came at the hands of the Swift Current Broncos.

The loss sends Seattle home with what has to be a disappointing 2-4 record on the trip. Swift Current got 23 saves from goalie Landon Bow along with goals from Colby Cave and Glenn Gadwin in the win. Seattle’s lone goal came from Ethan Bear.

Playing their third game in as many nights – and fourth in five nights – the T-Birds had a hard time generating any sustained offense against a tough Swift Current defense. As they did on Saturday night, Seattle opened the scoring in the first period when Ethan Bear fired a slap-shot from the point for his third goal of the season.

Seattle got that goal despite only four shots in the first period, and just as the night before, the lead did not hold.

Swift Current got the game even on a power-play goal from Cave, who was allowed to walk out alone and beat Taran Kozun. Seattle’s goalie had another strong game as he made 25 saves and kept the T-Birds in it. The Broncos got the go-ahead goal 2 minutes later when Gadwin scored his sixth goal of the year.

The T-Birds had a golden opportunity to get the game even in the second, when they were given a full minute of a five-on-three power-play opportunity. The T-Birds were unable to capitalize on the chance. Their power play has struggled this year and on Sunday night it let them down again, failing to score on any of its three chances.

The T-Birds will now get on the bus and make the long trek back to Kent, where they will have a week off before taking on the Spokane Chiefs Friday at the ShoWare Center.

Notes

• Luke Osterman got into a scrap with Swift Current’s Ayrton Nikkel in the second period. Both players had been in the penalty box and dropped the gloves when their penalties ended. The officials determined the fight to be a staged fight, which brings along with it a game misconduct. Both players were ejected.

• The T-Birds killed off all three Swift Current power plays and are becoming road warriors on the penalty kill. They are third in the WHL in road penalty killing with a kill percentage of 87.

• In the T-Birds’ four losses on the road trip, they only managed a combined six goals. In their two victories, they scored six goals in each game.