Thunderbirds learning to play with the lead

The Thunderbirds’ Eastern Conference road swing at the beginning of November started on a sour note when they surrendered 3-1 leads in two consecutive games before falling in both contests in the waning moments.

Since those two games, the two-goal lead entering the third period has been a common theme, but Seattle’s response has been significantly different. In fact, during the T-Birds’ current six-game winning streak, they have carried 3-1 leads into the third period four times. In only one of those games – the overtime victory against Kamloops – did they surrender the lead before putting the game away quickly in overtime.

On Saturday night, Portland scored a goal early in the third period to make it 3-2 when the puck took a fortuitous bounce off of the end boards and onto the tape of Paul Bittner’s stick. Skating unimpeded in front of T-Birds goalie Logan Flodell, Bittner was able to easily notch his second goal of the game and cut Seattle’s lead to one. The quick score lit a fire under the Winterhawks, but also inspired Seattle to buckle down for the remainder of the game.

“I think we’ve hit some little bumps in the road and (when we were) on that (Eastern Conference) trip,” said T-Birds head coach Steve Konowalchuk. “To have to go through what we did, maybe it made us a little bit tougher mentally because now when we’re hitting a little bump in the game the guys are still playing.”

“You don’t want to draw it up like that, where they come in and get a quick goal,” he continued in reference to Bittner’s goal. “But our guys just kept playing. They didn’t change our ways and maybe even picked it up another notch.”

Seattle’s players have acknowledged their inability to close games and made it a focus moving forward. It’s no coincidence that Scott Eansor, a high-motor, defensively minded forward, was absent during the road trip when Seattle struggled.

“We need to learn how to finish teams after we get a lead,” Eansor said. “Winning teams do that, especially later on in the season. It’s better to start that now than later in the season. I hope we get better at it soon.”

Nic Holowko, who scored a goal just 1:58 after Bittner’s to give the T-Birds some extra life, said the team discussed the two-goal lead during the second intermission.

“We were like, ‘This is our worst position, the worst lead in hockey.’ We got kind of scared but we kept our composure and started burying (the puck),” he said.

It’s a truism that in any sport, the best teams are able to win close games and close out their opponents when they have a lead. The T-Birds struggled to do that briefly, but they seem to have learned their lesson quickly.

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