T-Birds walk into Kelowna and beat WHL’s top team 5-2

As the final horn sounded Friday night in Kelowna, Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Taran Kozun thrust his arms into the air to celebrate his biggest win of the season.

The fact that he had any energy to lift his arms that high is remarkable. Kozun was the game’s first star after making 36 saves to pace the T-Birds to a 5-2 win over the WHL’s best Kelowna Rockets at Prospera Place.

Offensively the T-Birds got goals from five different players and continue to play their best hockey of the season.

Heading into Friday night there was no team in the Western Hockey League playing as well as the T-Birds over the last 10 games. Seattle was 8-1-0-1 over that span and would put that streak on the line against the league’s toughest team, on the road in a game televised nationally in Canada. The young T-Birds didn’t succumb to the moment and gutted out an impressive win.

Prior to the game head coach Steve Konowalchuk convinced his guys that they could compete with the high-powered Rockets.

“We talked last night,” he said. “We talked about the amount of points we’ve had the last ten games and where Kelowna was at the last ten games, so we just wanted to go out and play and not over-respect them too much.”

Kelowna’s roster is littered with top-end NHL prospects. Most notable of those are the recent acquisitions of Leon Draisaitl and Josh Morrissey from Prince Albert. Draisaitl was the third overall pick in last June’s NHL draft and played 37 goals with the Edmonton Oilers this season. Since returning to the WHL and Kelowna, he had scored in every game.

The T-Birds had their work cut out for them and early on it looked like they might be in for a long night. The Rockets owned the puck as Seattle (22-16-2-3) barely touched it while being outshot 11-1 through the first ten minutes of the game. The problem for the Rockets is that they could not get any of those shots past Kozun.

“Kozun had to be huge to give us a chance to get our legs and get that first goal,” Konowalchuk said. “They came out and were the better team for the first ten minutes and Kozun was big for us. We seemed to get into the game after that.”

The Seattle netminder made several big saves early in the game, the biggest coming when he stoned Tomas Soustal on a two-on-none break after a T-Birds turnover.

Seattle was outshot 17-9 in the period but would end up leading when it was over.

Going against the flow of play, Roberts Lipsbergs got the T-Birds going late in the first when he beat Kelowna goalie Jackson Whistle by putting his own rebound into the back of the net. It was Lipsbergs’ first goal since rejoining the T-Birds a week ago.

Lipsbergs would set up Seattle’s second goal a minute later when he fed Scott Eansor in the slot. Eansor one-timed the puck to beat Whistle with his sixth goal of the year.

It was a huge momentum swing after the way the period started.

“I thought they settled in for the most part,” Konowalchuk said. “After we weathered the storm a bit, the team came out and played a pretty solid game, got back on our forecheck and pushing the pace a little bit.”

The Rockets (34-8-3-0) are the top-scoring team in the WHL, and a two-goal lead with forty minutes to play was anything but safe. That theory became a reality when Nick Merkley scored from in front of the Seattle goal after Tyrell Goulbourne picked off a T-Bird pass behind the net 6:39 into the second period.

Instead of letting the flood gates open, Seattle answered on the next shift.

Lane Pederson got the puck to Cory Millette in the slot, and he fired a shot past Whistle to restore the T-Birds two-goal lead. It took just 15 seconds for Seattle to answer the Merkley goal.

“That’s real big,” Konowalchuk said. “Any time you answer back after a team scores, on the next shift, that’s huge.”

It was Millette’s third goal in as many games since he joined the T-Birds in a trade from Prince Albert. All three goals were of the greasy, gritty variety from in close.

“He goes to the net,” Konowalchuk said of his new winger. “It’s not luck that he’s finding those goals. He’s always around the net and if you’re always around the net the puck’s going to go to you.”

Kozun and the Seattle defense would hold onto that lead heading into the third period, and the T-Birds would strike early in the third to build an insurmountable advantage. On the power play, Shea Theodore fired a shot past Whistle for his sixth goal of the year and his eighth point in four games. The goal came 1:02 into the third period and deflated the Rockets. That goal ended the night for Whistle, who gave up four goals on 19 shots. He was replaced by back up Michael Herringer.

“To be able to get that three-goal lead was huge,” Konowalchuk said. “It’s a lot easier to defend a three-goal than it is a two-goal lead with a good offensive team like that. They’ve got a lot of offensive firepower on that team.”

The Rockets would score late in the third to cut the lead to two when Madison Bowey fired a slap shot that Kozun couldn’t catch up with. That was as close as they would get, though, and Keegan Kolesar would finish them off with an empty net marker with 26 seconds left.

In the end it was a huge win for the T-Birds. It extends the hot streak they are on as they have now won nine of the last 11 games. With a lot of hockey still to play this year it’s probably a stretch to call this win a statement game, but it should build a ton of confidence.

“You come in here and believe you can win, but until you go out and do it it’s only a belief,” Konowalchuk said of his team. “They went out there, played hard and got a win. They should feel good about it.”

Konowalchuk would go onto say that the team had until about midnight to celebrate the win as they have to climb aboard their bus and head south for a big game Saturday night in Everett against the U.S. Division leading Silvertips.

“We’ll get on the bus and they’ll go to sleep. Tomorrow’s another game,” he said.

Notes

• The Shea Theodore countdown continued with his third period goal. He now trails former Seattle Breaker Craig Chanell by seven points for the top spot on Seattle’s list for points by a defenseman. Theodore now has points in his last eight games.

• Ethan Bear is also hot, and with an assist on Theodore’s goal he has 11 points in his last 11 games.

• The T-Birds continue to play with great discipline. They only gave the Rockets, and their top ranked power-play unit, two chances with the man advantage. Seattle has only been short handed seven times in its last four games.

• Lipsbergs added an assist to his goal and has four points in his four games since rejoining the T-Birds. His last goal with Seattle also came against the Rockets, on April 5 during Game 2 of the Western Conference semi-finals.

• The T-Birds have been one of the lowest scoring teams in the WHL and CHL, but over the last 11 games they are starting to pick it up. During this stretch they are averaging 3.55 goals per game, which is up from their season average of 2.77.

• Thursday it was announced that Mathew Barzal would not be playing in next week’s NHL/CHL BMO Top Prospects Game. He is still recovering from his knee injury and despite not playing in that game is hoping to be back with the T-Birds next weekend. Ryan Gropp will still play in the game and is on the Team Orr roster.

Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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