T-Birds turn away Raiders in 3-2 shootout win

KENT – The Thunderbirds had the band back together on Saturday night and came from behind to beat the Prince Albert Raiders in a shootout.

Saturday saw the return of Mathew Barzal, Ryan Gropp and Jamal Watson to the Seattle lineup, and they didn’t disappoint. After being outshot 7-1 to start the game, the T-Birds would take control, outshooting the Raiders 31-10 the rest of the way on their way to a 3-2 win.

Things didn’t start well, however, as the T-Birds took a penalty 40 seconds into the game that gave the Raiders the early jump.

“I thought we were ready to play,” Steve Konowalchuk said. “They got a little of momentum off that power play but other than that I thought we just kept coming. We kept coming and definitely deserved the two points, their goalie played a heck of a game.”

Austin Glover started the scoring off for Prince Albert when he was left alone in front of the net and batted a puck out of mid-air past goalie Taz Burman. Three minutes later Reid Gardiner stole the puck in deep and was allowed to walk unmolested from the boards in front to score.

As it did last Sunday, Seattle had fallen behind early. The difference on Saturday was it got its game going much quicker than it did in Kennewick last time out.

The T-Birds would cut the lead late in the period by converting on their second power-play attempt. Barzal had the puck on the left circle and took a big slap shot that goalie Rylan Parenteau couldn’t stop. The New York Islander prospect is not known for a booming slap shot but he took what the Prince Albert penalty killers were giving him.

“I wasn’t even going to take it until they backed away,” he said. “(Alexander) True had a great screen in front so I saw a corner and let it go.”

From there the flow of the game belonged to the T-Birds. Their team speed started taking over and the Raiders were on their heels the remainder of the night. If not for the fine play of Parenteau, the game might have gotten out of hand.

“I thought our line jumped pretty well tonight and it’s good to see the boys compete like we saw tonight,” Barzal said. “I think it sets a good standard for how the season is going to be.”

Barzal played with Gropp and Keegan Kolesar all night and that line combined to score two goals and four points. Seattle’s defense, after the early struggles, got in sync and started to play its game as well. It kept the Raiders to the outside and got the puck out of its end quickly.

Despite controlling the play, the T-Birds still found themselves trailing after two periods. They would get the game even five minutes into the last period though, and once again did it on the power play.

Barzal got the puck down low to Kolesar. The Prince Albert defenders gave him a ton of space, worried about Barzal’s presence, and that allowed the big winger to walk right in front and sweep the puck past a helpless Parenteau.

Kolesar isn’t used to getting that much open ice.

“Usually I’ve got a stick in my face or something,” he said. “It was good for me to get that good pass from Barzal and True set a good pick for me.”

Kolesar added an assist on Saturday night and the big winger is off to a hot start. He now has seven points in the first four games and leads the team in scoring.

“That’s what we expect,” Konowalchuk said of Kolesar. “He’s always had the skill and we saw it at times last year. With him, it’s bringing it every day and you know, he looks like he’s more mature and he’s doing that.”

Seattle has fallen behind in three of its four games this year, but each time it battled back to tie the game at some point. That can be a big confidence booster for the club moving forward, knowing that it’s never out of the game.

“We weren’t worried at all,” Kolesar said about falling behind. “We just started fresh and we can go and chip away at them. It doesn’t have to be quick.”

Team speed was key for the Thunderbirds all night. They were the faster team and it put constant pressure on the Prince Albert defense, who needed their goalie to bail them out on several occasions.

The T-Birds had several chances to end the game in regulation but were continuously stymied by Parenteau. The same would hold true in the wild three-on-three overtime period where after some early possession by Prince Albert, Seattle would come close on three occasions.

Burman made a big save of his own in the overtime period and would carry that into the shootout, where he stopped Reid Gardiner to give Seattle the early advantage. He would end the night making 18 saves to pick up his first win of the year.

On the other end, Barzal converted first with some patience, waiting out Parenteau before getting a shot by him. Watson would follow that up with a pretty back-handed top-shelf score and Kolesar ended it by sweeping the puck past the Raiders goalie on a move he picked up from watching a teammate.

“I just copied Barzy,” Kolesar said with a smirk. “I mean, it worked out for him so why not try it out.”

The T-Birds will take the win and head south for their first matchup with the Portland Winterhawks on Sunday afternoon. Last week Seattle followed up a Saturday win with a terrible first period in Kennewick. They look to avoid that same scenario this time.

“We already mentioned tomorrow to make sure we handle this,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s one win, we handle it just like one win and we’ve got to move on.”

Notes

• Seattle has had some issues in the first period so far. In the four games it has been outshot 45-29 to start games while being outscored 7-3. That is something you can bet it’s working on moving forward.

• With all of the players back, the T-Birds were able to put their top power-play unit in action Saturday. It didn’t disappoint as they ended the night 2 for 4 with the man advantage. Prince Albert was unable to score on its two chances.

• Kolesar has points in all four games, while Scott Eansor and Mathew Wedman both had their three-game point streaks snapped Saturday.

• Once again Burman was left hung out to dry early by his teammates. On both goals, Prince Albert players were allowed easy access to the front of the net. The T-Birds tightened up their play the rest of the way and Burman would make some key saves down the stretch. “He shut the door the rest of the way,” Konowalchuk said. “They got a couple quick ones. You’ve got to be mentally tough to shut the door the rest of the way. With goaltending it’s timely saves and being mentally tough. When’s it 2-0 there he shut the door the rest of the way and gave us a chance.”

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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