Thunderbirds edge out Kelowna 3-2 in overtime

The T-Birds showed little effect from the overnight travel Wednesday evening and beat the Rockets 3-2 in overtime.

BY ANDY EIDE

Mar 18, 2015, 11:04 PM Updated: Mar 19, 2015, 10:08 am

After an overnight bus ride and early wake-up call, the Thunderbirds skated into Propsera Place in Kelowna and beat the Western Conference’s top team.

The T-Birds showed little effect from the overnight travel Wednesday evening and beat the Rockets 3-2 in overtime. Lane Pederson picked up the game winner three minutes into the overtime period while rookie goalie Logan Flodell made 25 saves to get his third career win. The victory clinched third place in the U.S. Division for the T-Birds as Spokane – who lost to Portland Wednesday night – will not be able to catch them.

“It’s a good win any time, travel or no travel,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said afterwards. “That’s a good opponent and to get two points was big.”

The Rockets are the second-highest scoring club in the WHL but Flodell was able to keep them at bay all night. He made several good saves early to keep Seattle from falling behind and late to keep the game from slipping away. Flodell was in net to give Taran Kozun a much deserved night off.

“Great game,” Konowalchuk said about his rookie. “He made some timely saves for us. They had us out of position a few times but he did whatever it took to make the save.”

Kozun had started the 14 of the last 15 games for the T-Birds, so for Flodell it was his first start since March 2 in Victoria.

The Rockets had the better play in the first few moments but Seattle got their legs under them quickly and turned the tide.

“I didn’t mind it,” Konowalchuk said of the start. “In this building it can be a lot worse and they usually come out strong the first five minutes. I didn’t mind it, and it wasn’t like they were coming at us in bunches.”

Once the T-Birds were able to push back they were able to get on the scoreboard first. Evan Wardley took what seemed like an innocent looking shot from the point. The puck bounced in front of him and he couldn’t handle it as it found its way into the net. It was Wardley’s sixth goal of the year and gave the T-Birds some momentum.

The rest of the period Seattle was the better team and generated a number of quality scoring chances. If not for some good saves by Whistle the T-Birds would have scored more. Whistle would end the night with 21 saves on 24 Seattle shots.

The Rockets got that goal back early in the second period when Rourke Chartier poked a puck behind Flodell for his 48th goal. Despite being outshot 11-4 by Kelowna in the period the T-Birds would get the lead back late. On the power play Mathew Barzal made a nice play along the boards. He moved into the zone, drew two Rockets penalty killers to him as he sent a cross ice pass to a wide open Shea Theodore. Theodore threw the puck in front to Cory Millette who tapped in his 22nd goal of the season.

It was the T-Birds’ only power-play goal of the night as they ended the game going 1-for-6 with the man advantage.

Seattle made life hard on itself in the third with a couple of untimely penalties. The first one, seven minutes into the period, cost them as Dillon Dube snapped home a shot to tie it. Kelowna would get another late power play with under five minutes left in the period. With the league’s leading power-play unit, it was a great chance to take a late lead.

Seattle’s penalty killers fought them off, however, and got the big kill. Seattle killed off four Kelowna power plays on the night, none bigger than the last.

“The PK was really good tonight,” Konowalchuk said. “We can’t take a penalty there, we have to be more disciplined but it was a good kill.”

That would send the game into overtime, where Pederson would end things by potting a rebound after a Jerret Smith shot. It was his eighth goal of the year and gave Seattle its third win in four games against the high-flying Rockets – winning both games they played in Kelowna. That gave them some confidence heading into the game.

“It certainly helps,” Konowalchuk said. “We’re familiar with the building but that’s a good team over there. They had most of their guys back,(Josh) Morrissey obviously is out, but they’re a good team.”

With two games left on the regular season schedule the T-Birds are locked in third place. They cannot improve nor hurt their seed this week. Konowalchuk said he’ll wait to see if he wants to rest guys over the weekend.

“We’ll see where we’re at and assess,” he said. “If guys are fresh then we’ll keep our pedal to the metal. I honestly hadn’t given it much thought since I wasn’t sure where we’d be at this time.”

Seattle will next head to Spokane for a matchup with the fourth-place Chiefs before heading home to take on Portland.

Notes

• Seattle has done an outstanding job containing Kelowna star Leon Draisaitl. The Edmonton Oilers prospect has lit the league up since the Oilers returned him to the WHL in January. In the three games he’s played against Seattle he only has one assist. He picked that up on Wednesday.

• Who Seattle will play in the first round is still up in the air, and they may end up having a hand in who it is. With Portland’s win Wednesday they have caught the Everett Silvertips for first in the division. Both teams have three games left, and if they both win out Portland will win the division. That makes Saturday’s game against Seattle an interesting one.

• Barzal ended the night with one assist but was originally on the books for a second. He was awarded one on Wardley’s goal but after review it was taken away from him. He has 40 assists in 42 games this season.

• Wednesday night was the second game back for center Alexander True, who had missed two months with a broken wrist.

Follow Andy Eide on Twitter @andyeide.