T-Birds make it six in a row after 3-1 win at Vancouver

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Seattle Thunderbirds proved that you can indeed go home again.

Seattle picked up its sixth straight win in Vancouver by outlasting the Giants 3-1 at the Pacific Coliseum on Friday evening. While it was a solid team win, it was two Vancouver area products that played pivotal roles.

Mathew Barzal, who hails from nearby Coquitlam, rebounded from a game where he did not appear on the score sheet to score a goal and add an assist, and Vancouver native Taz Burman made 21 saves to pick up his third win of the season, just missing his first career shutout.

Barzal and Burman were the stars but Friday’s win was the result of a solid performance up and down the Seattle (7-1-1-0) lineup.

“That’s a good road win,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “Good road win against a team that was going to come out hard and desperate and we stayed with the game plan for the most part. I thought we got away from it a little bit at the end of the first period but guys kept getting right back to what we needed to do and I thought by the third period we were jumping.”

The T-Birds held Vancouver (4-5-1-1) in check most of the night, limiting their chances and suffocating them with a strong forecheck. They outshot the Giants 38-22 and got stronger as the game wore on, holding a 31-14 shot advantage over the final forty minutes.

The defense played well, the goaltending was sharp and Konowalchuk liked the way his team attacked the Giants.

“It started in the offensive zone,” Konowalchuk said. “It started with the puck – let’s get it going, let’s get attacking. It’s not that we’re sitting back. We don’t ever want to sit back, we want to go at them and then it’s hard for them to get going.”

Seattle would get on the board early in the second after Vancouver goaltender Peyton Lee got lost behind his own net. The puck bounced out in front and Alexander True knocked it through the scrambling Lee for his fifth goal of the season.

True is off to a good start and was strong again on Friday. He scored the game’s first goal and was a noticeable presence all night in his own end and in the Vancouver end.

Barzal would extend the Seattle lead on the power play six minutes later. He had the puck at the top of the faceoff circle and the Giant penalty killers backed off, worried about his skating and play-making ability. None of them wanted to look foolish trying to defend Barzal, and with the extra room, Barzal stepped into a big slap shot that Lee had no chance at.

It was Barzal’s third score of the season and the sixth straight game that Seattle has scored at least one power-play goal.

Seattle dominated most of the third period as the Scott Eansor, Nolan Volcan and Jamal Watson line made its presence felt. They forechecked hard and seemingly had the puck on each shift of theirs. That line has come to play every night and so far have been Seattle’s most consistent line.

“It’s so nice to have a predictable line that goes out there and out-works ’em,” Konowalchuk said. “They get their scoring chances and they’re a good line.”

Burman would lose his shutout bid with under five minutes to go on a crazy bounce. Jackson Houck fired a slap shot wide of the net, but it took a hard bounce off the end boards. Tyler Benson was waiting on the other side of the net for Vancouver and found the puck right on his stick, and he deposited it behind a helpless Burman.

Friday was the first game of the season for Benson, who is predicted to be a first-round pick in this summer’s NHL Draft. He had been out with an injury and his debut had an inauspicious start. He was hit in the face with a puck during warmups and had to miss the first ten minutes of the game while he was being worked on. When he did return he was wearing the extra protection of a full cage and after the game was sporting a serious cut on his face.

The Benson goal gave the game a moment of pause for the T-Birds as the lead suddenly was cut to a narrow one goal. Seattle wasted no time to answer back, however, and scored 25 seconds later.

Barzal got the puck in the corner and worked it out front. Fighting off a defender with one hand he got a back-handed pass off to Keegan Kolesar in the slot. Kolsear one-timed a shot that Lee couldn’t handle and just like that, Seattle had a two-goal lead again.

Seattle struggled against Tri City on Wednesday with their discipline, which led to seven power-plays for the Americans. Konowalchuk was not happy with that effort, despite Seattle going on to win the game. Friday night he knew the T-Birds would have to clean it up for this weekend where they will be facing two of the league’s best power plays.

“Tonight you’re going against the No. 1 power play and Everett’s right there with No. 2,” he said. “We’ve got to play that way anyway but it’s a good time to smarten up.”

Seattle did smarten up and only found itself short handed on three occasions. They killed them all off as their penalty kill was solid, even generating a couple of chances on their own.

With six straight wins in their pockets the T-Birds will hop the team bus and head back south for their first look at the Everett Silvertips Saturday night at the XFinity Arena. They will try to make it seven straight against an Everett club that has been struggling of late to score goals. Face off is at 7 p.m.

Notes

• Kolesar continues to be red hot. His goal Friday gives him points in seven of Seattle’s eight games.

• Midway through the game Konowalchuk moved Nick Holowko up to the top line with Mathew Barzal and Kolesar. “I thought Holowko was going and we wanted our best guys going down the stretch,” he said of the move.

• Burman continued his solid play Friday. He has won his last three starts and has posted a save percentage of .924 over that time.

• Seattle was held scoreless in the first period and has yet to score a first period goal on the road this year. Friday was their fourth road game of the season.

• Barzal and Burman were not the only T-Birds playing in their hometown. Jerret Smith, Jarret Tyszka, and Holowko all grew up in the greater Vancouver area.

Follow Andy on Twitter @andyeide.

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