Thunderbirds drop opener in Vancouver to Giants 3-2

VANCOUVER, British Columbia – The Seattle Thunderbirds started slow in their season opener Friday night and despite charging back, made one mistake too many.

After digging themselves a 2-0 hole in the first two periods the T-Birds fought back to tie the Vancouver Giants in the third. Then one bad play – as it had all night – cost them. Deep in his own end, Ethan Bear would shoot the puck too high on a clearing attempt and it sailed into the Pacific Coliseum crowd, resulting in a delay of game penalty.

With four minutes left in the game, the Giants would capitalize when Ty Ronning took a pass in the slot and fired it through traffic to beat Seattle goalie Taz Burman. It was Ronning’s second goal of the night and sealed the opening night victory for Vancouver.

“A guy wide open in the slot and nobody picked him up,” Seattle head coach Steve Konowalchuk said of the game winner. “We’ve got to be able to make that read and at least get a stick on there. They can’t get a free shot on a pass from the corner.”

Seattle had to deploy a patch work lineup on Friday as they are still missing key players. Mathew Barzal is still in camp with the New York Islanders and Jamal Watson is still with the Montreal Canadiens organization. Ryan Gropp was a scratch as he is nursing a minor injury.

That meant that Konowalchuk had to throw new lines together, much as he did in the preseason.

“A little bit different with the lines but that’s no excuse,” he said after. “The game was there. We battled back and had it tied but we took a penalty and top of that we didn’t get the kill, that’s the game.”

The T-Birds started slow and fell behind when Vancouver’s Radovan Bondra got behind the defense and beat Burman. Vancouver out shot Seattle 13-9 in the opening period which put the T-Birds on their heels.

“They were better than us in the first period.,” Konowalchuk said. “A little jitters in some areas in the first period and we just didn’t play strong enough on some pucks in the first.”

Seattle came out on fire in the second period however.

They took the frame’s first seven shots and were buzzing around Giants’ goalie Payton Lee. They couldn’t find the net however and when Ronning knocked home a loose puck with under two minutes left in the period Seattle had to feel deflated.

The goal went against the flow of the play and Seattle left the period down more than they started at.

“It was a good second period and that’s tough,” Konowalchuk said. “Again, 2-2 in someone’s else’s building with four minutes left. We’ve got to be able to finish that out.”

The T-Birds again were the better team in the third period and it looked like they were going to make the big comeback. They picked up where they left off in the second with the continuous pressure on Lee and this time they cashed in.

Just over four minutes into the last frame, Scott Eansor got Seattle on the board when he snapped a shot home from in front. The play was set up by a nice feed from Ethan Bear and Seattle got the early jump they needed.

Six minutes later, Keegan Kolesar tapped a loose puck in the neutral zone to a speedy Mathew Wedman who got it to Nick Holowko who was flying through the slot. Holowko beat Lee and just like that, the T-Birds had evened it up.

“I thought as the game went on there were some good things to build on,” Konowalchuk said. “The second and third period was close to how we have to play.”

That excitement was doused when Ronning scored on the power play six minutes after Holowko’s goal.

Despite the loss, there were some bright spots for the T-Birds on Friday.

Burman was outstanding. playing in his home town, and the score could have been much worse if not for some great saves. Most notable were two strong pad saves from in close to keep the T-Birds within two goals.

“He played a good game,” Konowalchuk said of his goalie. “Especially when it was 2-0, he really dug in there. He gave us a chance to win and that’s what we ask of our goalies.”

The T-Birds will now get a full week to regroup as thanks to a strange scheduling quirk, are off until next Saturday when they host the Prince George Cougars.

“Normally you’d like to get right back at it,” Konowalchuk said. “But there’s some things we can work on and maybe Gropp can heal up a bit and get a little bit of work on our line chemistry.”

Game notes

• Konowalchuk said that the team has no idea, or control, over when Barzal and Watson will be returned. Both players should be returned at some point and the week off may end up benefiting the T-Birds.

• While the T-Birds were in Vancouver, Barzal suited up for the New York Islanders in a preseason game in New Jersey. Barzal scored his first goal with New York in the second period on what the NHL.com box score described as a ‘snap shot’.

• Konowalchuk classified Gropp’s injury as ‘not serious’ and labled him day-to-day.

• With a mix-match of players, the T-Birds were not able to cash in on any of their three power-play opportunities. Vancouver ended the night 1-for-4 with the man advantage.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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