T-Birds make it two in a row with overtime win against Victoria

EVERETT – The Thunderbirds found a way to make Saturday’s preseason game with the Victoria Royals more dramatic than it should have been.

Seattle blew a two-goal lead in third period – allowing the Royals to tie the game at 4-4 – before winning in overtime on an Ethan Bear goal. Seattle was led by Lane Pederson, who had four points, and Keegan Kolesar, who picked up three, including the game-winning assist.

Seattle is now 2-0 in The Everett Silvertips Preseason Classic being held this weekend at Comcast Arena. The T-Birds will finish off the weekend with a tilt against the Spokane Chiefs Sunday afternoon at 3.

“Some good learning points for us,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “We can’t take penalties, we let them back in the game with penalties. We got a little too relaxed on the bench when we were up 4-2. We have to get back into the mindset of winning hockey.”

Seattle fought through the penalties and over-confidence to get going again in the overtime period. In overtime, Kolesar got the puck from Pederson and glided behind the Everett net before finding Bear in the slot for the winner.

“Pedersen gave me a great pass,” Kolesar said of the play. “I kind of fumbled it but I took it behind the net and I saw Bearsy rushing and I knew the goalie was out of play so I wrapped it and gave it to Bearsy for the tip-in.”

Kolesar and his linemate Pedersen were the stars of the game for Seattle. Despite a goal and two assists, Kolesar was quick to mention the one mistake he made. He turned the puck over at the Seattle blue line in the second period and Tyler Soy picked it up and fed Matthew Campese, who broke in alone on Danny Mumaugh to give Victoria a 2-1 lead.

“It was a good game after my turnover there,” Kolesar said. “That got me pretty fired up and I owed the team a couple there.”

Pederson had his best game of the preseason with his big four-point night. Pederson was strong in camp last season and was one of the last players cut. He has come back stronger and ready to contribute.

“I just want to come in and make the team, contribute offensively as much as I can,” Pederson said. “Also, making sure I’m strong defensively and pucks don’t end up in our net.

With Seattle’s youth in its forward group, getting contributions from guys like Pederson and Kolesar will be key.

“They’re both good players that have offensive talent,” Konowalchuk said of his young forwards. “They’re both players that need to learn how to push the pace every game.”

Seattle got on the board first Saturday when Justin Hickman knocked home a loose puck on a power play. The Royals answered with two goals, first by Jared Dmytriw and then the Campese score early in the second.

Seattle would then score three unanswered goals as Pederson, Kolesar and rookie Matthew Wedman all found the net.

In the third period things got strange. Victoria took a shot that Mumaugh stopped, creating a scramble in front of the net. The puck never appeared to cross the goal line but the goal judge sitting behind the net turned on his light. With it being preseason, there was no video judge and the referees took the goal judge’s word for it.

“This day and age there’s video,” Konowalchuk said with a smile. “But this time we’re just taking the goal judge’s word on it, that’s a little bit different … that’s what they went with, but in regular season they’ll go with video replay.”

Victoria tied it up shortly after when Brandon Fushimi scored from the slot. That woke the T-Birds up and they pushed back to win the game in overtime.

Notes

• It’s always hard to judge preseason results as a lot of rookies and prospects play. Seattle has scored nine goals in two games, neither of which featured two of the team’s top players in Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp. That feels like a good sign that the club will be able to generate scoring outside its top line.

• Saturday marked the return of big defenseman Evan Wardley, who had been sitting out scrimmages with an injury. He didn’t waste any time to make his presence felt. He had several big hits during the game, highlighted by sending Victoria import player Kristian Ferletak head first into his own bench.

Overall, Seattle played a much more physical game, something Konowalchuk expects game-in and game-out. “That’s just the way we want to play,” Konowalchuk said. “Doesn’t matter who’s in the lineup, we want to push the pace, finish checks, big guy or little guy.”

Danny Mumaugh got the start Saturday and made 29 saves in getting the win. Konowalchuk liked his play and felt that the game was a bit “scrambly” but was happy and went on to mention that “Mumaugh always finds a way to win.”

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