T-Birds pick up tough 3-2 victory over Tri City to extend win streak

Seattle beat the Tri City Americans 3-2 at the ShoWare Center in a penalty filled affair that was choppy and lacked any true flow. Ethan Bear scored his second goal of the night mid-way through the third period to give Seattle (6-1-1-0) the lead for good and Logan Flodell made 27 saves in the win.

Oct 22, 2015, 6:15 AM Updated: 6:17 am

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By Andy Eide

KENT — It may not have been the prettiest game they’ll play all year but the Seattle Thunderbirds extended their win streak to five straight on Wednesday night.

The T-Birds made too many mistakes and lacked discipline at key times throughout the night but in the end, they got the win.

“We found a way and at the end of the day, that’s what you need to do, find a way,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “There’s a lot of areas that we need to grow in and we can. I believe in the guys and our leadership. It was a rough game, give (Tri City) credit, they grinded it out as well.”

Seattle has played with a ton of discipline to start the season but Wednesday night gave Tri City (4-5-1-0) seven power-play chances. Luckily for Seattle, they only surrendered one goal on those attempts as they had a strong penalty kill.

“I thought the guys played pretty well in front of me,” Flodell said. “We had a lot of penalties that maybe shouldn’t have happened but that’s part of the game. We have to bear down and be a stronger team.”

Flodell was making his second straight start for the T-Birds and had to make some key saves. Most notably was a save on Parker Wotherspoon late in the game. The Tri City defenseman split the Seattle penalty killers and was in alone on the goalie, but Flodell flashed his pad to get the puck and preserve the T-Birds one-goal lead.

That power-play chance came with just over two minutes left in the contest and was on a play that occurred after the whistle. That lack of discipline plagued the T-Birds all night long.

Seattle had six power-play chances of their own which also helped robbed the game of its normal rhythm.

“It was one of those games where they’re calling more,” Konowalchuk said. “When they’re calling more you have to adjust, and that’s where we have to get better. We’re a better team, we should know better than that. We have to put more pressure on ourselves to be better than that.”

It was a big night for Bear, who had been playing well but had yet to find the back of the net. Both of his goals on Wednesday were go ahead goals and both came on the wrist shot.

With the score tied early in the third period Bear fired a shot through traffic that found the top corner of the net and past Americans’ goalie Evan Sarthou. After Tri City tied the game back up on a goal from Morgan Geekie, Bear found the same corner with a wrist shot on the power play for the winner.

It was the first two scores of the season for the Edmonton Oilers prospect and he was relieved to finally get a couple.

“It feels good,” Bear said. “Coming into this game and looking to get shots through and I finally did. It feels good to get it out of the way and just go from here.”

Tri City got on the board first, late in the opening period. Big rookie Micheael Rasmussen got the puck behind the net and was able to squeeze it past Flodell on the near post. It was the Americans’ lone power-play tally and they would hold that lead until mid way through the second period.

Seattle would tie the game at one in the second on Scott Eansor’s fourth goal of the year which set up Bear’s third period heroics.

The game was not without its share of controversy and both teams had goals waived off. With the score tied at one, it appeared that Tri City had scored on the power play when Brian Williams fired a shot into a wide open net. On the play it appeared that Flodell had been interfered with and the Seattle players were incensed, none more so than Mathew Barzal who earned a ten-minute misconduct for arguing too vehemently with the officials. After review it was determined that the Tri City player had interfered with Flodell and the goal was disallowed.

“I honestly didn’t know,” Flodell said of the play. “I saw the replay and the guy just bowled over me and I had no chance to get over to the puck. I’m glad it was no goal though.”

Before Bear’s second goal it looked like Seattle had scored the go-ahead tally after a pile up of bodies in the Tri City net. On the ice, the officials ruled the puck was kicked in by a Seattle player and after a video review, the call was confirmed.

Despite the problems on Wednesday, Seattle takes the two points in the standings and moves on. The mood after the game indicated that they will learn from the mistakes they made and look to improve on Friday when they travel to Vancouver.

“We had a slow start and had to get it together quick,” Bear said. “We had some bad penalties and for us, we’ve got to prepare better and come in with a better mental focus.”

Notes

The penalty fest didn’t end when the game ended. Players convened and had strong words with each other after the final horn.Seattle’s Scott Eansor and Tri City’s Parker Wotherspoon were both given ten-minute misconducts at the 20 minute mark.

Konowalchuk was not happy with the lack of discipline his team displayed and after returning from his misconduct penalty in the third period, Barzal was not given another shift in the game.

The T-Birds did manage to score a power-play goal and now have power-play goals in each of their last five wins.

Flodell got a second straight start, which is only the second time a goalie has been given the net in two consecutive games for Seattle. Konowalchuk said after that he went that way because he liked the way Flodell played against Tri City in their last meeting and it sets up Taz Burman to get the start in his hometown on Friday in Vancouver.

Nolan Volcan’s father, Marty, was on hand to fire up the crowd before the game. Marty Volcan was a defenseman for the Seattle Breakers in 1984-85.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.