T-Birds face elimination after third straight OT loss to Brandon

KENT – The Seattle Thunderbirds have to be reeling from a strong sense of deja vu.

Tuesday night they lost to the Brandon Wheat Kings in the WHL Finals for the third straight time in overtime. For the third straight time it was by a 3-2 score, and now they find their season on the brink.

The script was nearly the same as it was in the previous two games.

Seattle built a lead only to see Brandon tie it in the third period and win in overtime. Reid Duke got the winner this time five minutes into overtime as he waited out a sliding Seattle defenseman to beat Landon Bow with a laser-like wrist shot.

“We caught those guys out for a longer shift, they needed to get off,” Duke said of the game-winning goal. “We made a nice play to get it right up … Their D-man slid early and I decided to drag it.”

The T-Birds are now facing elimination as they trail by a 3-0 margin in the best-of-seven series.

“It was a pretty good game again, both ways,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “We had some chances when we were up 2-1. We had two, three, four point-blank chances that we didn’t capitalize on.”

It’s been a frustrating series so far for the T-Birds, who have to feel that they could easily be up three games rather than down. Instead they now face the daunting task of coming back from a 3-0 deficit, something that’s only been done twice in the history of the league.

“We’ve got nothing to lose now,” Mathew Barzal said after the game. “I mean, the season’s on the line. Everyone’s going to be going and you never know what’s going to happen.”

If the T-Birds are going to come back they’re going to have to find a way to score five-on-five. They’ve only scored one five-on-five goal in the series and have yet to be able to find that one extra goal that they need.

They’ve had chances but once again have not had any bounces go their way.

On Tuesday night, Cavin Leth and Scott Eansor both hit the crossbar, and in the second period Barzal had a break away with the score 2-1. He made a nice backhand attempt but Brandon goalie Jordan Papirny was able to stop it with a nice pad save.

“We’ve just got to bear down,” Barzal said. “We had those chances, even in the last two games. I had a breakaway today, if I score that we go up 3-1 in the third period. It’s a whole different game, right?”

The Wheat Kings got on the board first Tuesday when John Quenneville had enough time and space to take two cracks at the Seattle net. The second one beat Bow for Quenneville’s 14th goal of the playoffs, and Brandon had an early lead.

The T-Birds struck back with a vengeance later in the period. Given extended time on a two-man power play, they would strike for two quick goals.

It started when Kolesar flung a puck at the Brandon net that Papirny stopped. The rebound found Alexander True, who was parked in front, and he planted it for his first playoff goal. That allowed Brandon to get a fourth player on the ice, but it wouldn’t matter as Barzal found Kolesar in the slot for a goal 28 seconds later.

Like it had in the first two games, Brandon came back to tie in the third period. The Wheat Kings outshot Seattle 11-5 and pushed the pace. Quenneville scored his second of the night when he found himself alone in the slot. Two dekes later he slid a backhand shot past Bow to tie it up at 2.

Bow would end the night making 32 saves on 35 shots.

Coming into this series the Wheat Kings had a serious advantage in experience, having been in the finals last season, and that experience may have been paying off in the three straight overtimes.

“It seems that it’s making a difference,” Brandon head coach Kelly McCrimmon said. “I think that our guys know what to expect each time we are in a playoff game now because the core of our team has played quite a few playoff games. I think it’s more of a matter that guys believe if we keep playing the right way we can stay in the game.”

With their backs to the wall, now the T-Birds will have to worry about one shift at a time now to try and claw back into the series.

“When you’re in overtimes, it’s a close game, and with three overtime games it’s easy to be frustrated,” Konowalchuk said. “We have to make sure that we get that out of our heads right away. That’s wasted emotion and wasted energy. We have to come to the rink tomorrow looking ahead to make sure we get one game.”

Game 4 is Wednesday night at 7 p.m.

Notes

• This is the second playoff series in T-Birds history that has started with three straight overtime games. In 2013, Seattle won three overtime games to take a 3-0 lead over Kelowna in a first-round match up.

• WHL digital records only go back as far as 1997 and from that point on, no WHL Championship Series saw the first three games be decided in overtime until this year.

• Papirny continues to have a strong series in net for the Wheat Kings. He ended Tuesday’s game with 22 saves, although he did get an assist from his crossbar on two occasions.

• The Wheat Kings again were the better team in overtime and outshot Seattle 3-1 in the five minutes played. Overall they have outshot Seattle 17-3 in the three extra frames.

• Seattle Seahawks punter Jon Ryan was at the game in the ShoWare Center Tuesday. The Regina native, and former goalie, was once cut by the Brandon Wheat Kings.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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