T-Birds struggle with Kamloops again, lose 3-2 in shootout

The Thunderbirds’ inexplicable struggles with the Blazers continued Friday night at the Interior Savings Centre in Kamloops.

Seattle turned in a sloppy, turnover-filled second period and dropped a 3-2 decision to the Blazers in a shootout. Kamloops was led by goalie Connor Ingram, who was excellent all night while making 26 saves in the win.

Cole Ully and Jake Kryski both converted their shootout attempts while Seattle’s Mathew Barzal and Shea Theodore were denied to give the Blazers a home victory.

It was the T-Birds’ third straight loss this season to Kamloops. Over the past few years it doesn’t seem to matter how good the Blazers are, they simply have Seattle’s number.

“We lose the details a little bit,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said of playing Kamloops. “Our compete level is not as good for 60 minutes here. We haven’t played well here and it’s one point and we’ll move on. It wasn’t a good game. (Goalie Logan) Flodell got us the one point so good for him.”

Rookie Flodell got the start for the T-Birds – his third of the season – and made 29 saves to keep the T-Birds in the game.

Friday night’s game was lost in the second period for Seattle. Staked to a one-goal lead entering the period, the T-Birds would get sloppy with the puck. They couldn’t manage it and turned it over regularly.

They opened the period on the power play, but a bad entry pass was turned over at the Kamloops blue line. There it was scooped up by Marc McNulty, who fed it up to Joel Hamilton, who was off to the races. Hamilton moved in on Flodell and beat him through the five-hole for his first goal as a Blazer.

That goal sucked some of the life out of the T-Birds, and more turnovers would allow Kamloops to grab the lead. Ully picked up a puck that the T-Birds had fumbled away in their own end zncx got it to Matt Needham, who had Flodell out of position for the easy marker.

“The second period was not a good period by us,” Konowalchuk said. “We got complacent again and I don’t know why we tend to do that in this building. The third was just OK, so it was a frustrating game. We’ll take the one point and get out of here.”

Seattle looked like it might get a spark late in the frustrating period, as Donovan Neuls scored on a nice back-handed shot with just under one second left to tie the game back up. Often, late goals like that can swing the momentum.

In this case it didn’t.

Neither team generated much in the third period as both squads seemed to play cautious, not wanting to give up the lead. They would then play a scoreless overtime period and the Blazers would win in the shootout.

The T-Birds best five minutes of hockey Friday were the first five minutes. They came out on fire, generating chances and taking the lead on an Ethan Bear power-play goal. It was Bear’s 10th of the season and the only power-play conversion Seattle would have. Overall Seattle had six power-play opportunities, and managing only one score was a big key to the loss.

“We were moving it slow,” Konowalchuk said about his power play. “Didn’t want to shoot when it was there and they out-worked us. Their penalty kill out-worked us.”

Over the past two seasons the T-Birds have lost six out of seven against the Blazers. Historically Kamloops has been a good team, but that is not the case over the past two years. Kamloops was last in the Western Conference last year with only 14 wins, and this year it is fighting to stay out of the cellar. It makes Seattle’s struggles against them frustrating, especially coming a couple of nights after it beat the league’s top team in Kelowna.

The T-Birds will now take their one point and make the long trek back to the Puget Sound area. They will be in Everett Saturday night for a tough matchup against the U.S. Division-leading Silvertips. Seattle made a similar trip last month when they played in Kelowna and then in Everett the next night. That travel took some steam out of them and they were hammered 6-0.

Is there a game plan for this trip?

“We’re just going to have to regroup,” Konowalchuk said. “As coaches we’ll watch the film and put some stuff together.”

Notes

• Defenseman Jared Hauf was a scratch for Friday’s game. Konowalchuk said he thought that the big blue-liner was day-to-day and is suffering from an upper body injury.

• Seattle’s penalty kill continues to be strong. They killed off all four Blazers power-play chances and have not allowed a power-play goal in six straight games.

• One of the things Konowalchuk says he is going to change for Saturday’s game are his lines. He had matched up Ryan Gropp, Barzal and Roberts Lipsbergs over the past two games, but Look for that to change Saturday. “I think we’re going to mix up the lines,” the coach said Friday night. “We need to get a little bit more predictability. I thought Gropp, Barzal and Lipsbergs, they’re too cute together. They want to make plays and pass up shots, so I think we’ll split them up and get some predictability. That seems to be the way we play better as a team.”

• Shea Theodore picked up an assist on Neuls’ goal late in the second period. That helper moved him past former T-Bird Thomas Hickey into second all time for assists by a Seattle defenseman. Theodore, who trails Craig Channell by 27 assists, already has set the franchise mark for most points and goals by a defenseman.

Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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