T-Birds fall 6-3 to east leading Regina Pats

Facing their toughest test of the young season Sunday night in Regina, the Seattle Thunderbirds came up just short against the Eastern Conference leading Pats.

It was a back and forth affair that saw the Pats go ahead for good midway through the third period and hold on to pick up a 6-3 victory. The T-Birds were denied back-to-back wins for the first time this year despite a three-point night from defenseman Ethan Bear. Regina was paced by goals from six different players as they pushed their league-best record to 10-0-3-0.

Seattle fought back to tie the game twice and were in position to at least get the game into overtime however the high-flying Pats were a step ahead of them all night. Every time the T-Birds would tie, the Pats had a fast answer.

After Nolan Volcan tied the game at three early in the third period the Pats would strike back with a power-play goal from Adam Brooks. They would then go on to add two empty net tallies to make the score look worse than the game was. In the end, the T-Birds were good, but perhaps not as good as they needed to be.

“At times it was a good effort, but not good enough,” Konowalchuk said. “You’ve got to be resilient to keep going but the game’s tied up and we’re in position to get it into overtime and we give up a power-play goal.”

Seattle’s power play was a positive as it scored three times on five attempts. However, when playing five-on-five the T-Birds would come close but struggled to get a shot past Regina goalie Tyler Brown. Brown got the win while making 26 saves.

Generating chances but not finishing has been the theme of Seattle’s first 11 games this season.

“It’s scoring,” Konowalchuk said. “We’ve got good players with the puck in good positions but they need to start putting the puck in the net. They’re capable of doing that and they’ve got to work to get chances, they’re good players and they’ll do it.”

The Pats opened the scoring in the first period after Austin Wagner stole the puck from a Seattle defenseman right in front of the T-Birds net. Goalie Rylan Toth had little chance to stop it and Wagner notched his seventh of the season. Toth would end the night with 22 saves in the loss.

Seattle would get even two minutes into the second when Bear blasted a slap shot on the power play. It was Bear’s second goal in as many nights and third in his last four games. The tie didn’t last long however as Sam Steel would make it 2-1 less than a minute later.

The Pats extended their lead three minutes later on a power-play goal from Zane Zablocki. The T-Birds would cut that lead before the period ended when Sami Moilanen converted a wrist shot while the T-Birds were on the power play.

Volcan would then tie it early in the third before Steel’s game winner midway through the third.

While it appeared that the T-Birds hung with the Pats, Konowalchuk didn’t think his team played with enough desperation.

“In any game you have to be at your most desperate and against a real good team like this you’ve got show some desperation,” Konowalchuk said. “It shows when you’re not at your max desperation. Guys don’t really want to block shots and you’ve still got more to give.”

Konowalchuk acknowledged there was some positive to take out of Sunday, specifically the power play, which went 3-for-5 in what was their best performance of the season. But, he also knows that his team can still step it up a notch, which is a level they have yet to find this year.

They’ll get another chance to improve on Tuesday night when they will be in Saskatoon to take on the Blades.

Notes

• With four power-play goals in their last two games the T-Birds are no longer at the bottom of the league. They’ve worked their way up to 15^th on the power play, clicking now at 17.4 percent.

• Sunday was Toth’s first start against the Pats since he beat them 2-1 in Game 7 of last season’s Eastern Conference semi-finals. Toth made 32 saves that night to lead his Red Deer Rebels to the conference finals where they would fall to the Brandon Wheat Kings.

• Bear is starting to heat up. His goal and two assists on Sunday give him six points in his last four games.

• Playing in a pairing with Bear, Jerret Tyszka added an assist as well and now has three in his last two games.

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