Thunderbirds outlast Kamloops in marathon shootout

KENT – Rylan Toth had made 35 saves to steer the Thunderbirds into overtime but had to put in a little extra work during the shootout against the Kamloops Blazers Friday night.

He had to face nine shooters as he and the Blazers’ Connor Ingram put on a classic goalie duel. The first two shooters for each club scored but then the two goalies stiffened up and shut the door. Both teams worked down their bench and it was Seattle’s Zack Andrusiak who would beat Ingram on the T-Birds’ ninth attempt.

After that, Toth forced Erik Miller to shoot wide and threw his arms up in the air in joy as he had led Seattle to a 3-2 win.

“It’s some pressure but it’s exciting,” Toth said about the shootout. “When you make a save and the crowd goes crazy, it’s the best feeling in the world.”

There are a lot of good feelings around the T-Birds these days as Friday’s win was the team’s seventh straight and 13^th in their last 14 games. They jumped back ahead of Tri City for second place and pulled to within four points of first place Everett.

Friday’s win came on a night when Seattle (31-15-3-1) did not have its best game. After giving up 58 shots to Seattle on Tuesday, Kamloops (31-18-2-3) looked to tighten up defensively and that caused problems for the T-Birds.

“They had three, if not four guys back and we were a little bit stubborn and didn’t necessarily want to grind it out,” Seattle coach Steve Konowalchuk said. “We weren’t prepared to grind as much as we needed to at times, but again, good job to find a way to win.”

With the offense not as potent, the T-Birds leaned on Toth.

He made 25 saves in the first two periods and many of them were good scoring chances. After a stretch where Seattle wasn’t allowing many shots at all, he had to be ready.

“That’s hockey right,” Toth said. “Sometimes there’s tons of chances. Being on a good team like this…sometimes you’re going to go a long period without a chance and then you get a big one. It’s timely saves but it’s always fun when you can get 10,12 shots in a period.”

It was Toth’s 26^th win of the year and comes just two days after being named the WHL Goaltender of the month.

“I’m pretty happy with how I’ve been playing,” Toth said. “A big part of getting the goalie of the month is the ten wins. Our team has been playing some good hockey.”

Neither team found the back of the net in the opening frame but would combine for a back and forth second period.

Like they did Tuesday night, the Blazers would get on the board first. This time it came on the power play and from the stick of a former teammate. Nick Holowko knocked in a rebound after a Toth save to make it 1-0 for his fifth marker of the year.

The T-Birds wasted no time to answer however and would get the game back to square on the next shift.

Ingram made an initial save but left the rebound sitting in the crease. Luke Ormsby crashed the net and tapped it in the net for his fifth goal of the season.

Tied at one the T-Birds started getting a bit sloppy with the puck and a turnover in the neutral zone would end up in the back of their net. The Blazers took the puck and two quick passes had it on Deven Sideroff’s tape and he scored easily from Toth’s right. It was the Kamloops’ star’s 30^th goal of the year and gave the Blazers a 2-1 lead.

“I thought they did a good job of clogging and not giving us much room on the entries,” Konowalchuk said. “It was a grind it out game and I don’t know that we were at our best. I’ll give the other side credit, they played a good game.”

Seattle would get that one back on a power-play goal from Ryan Gropp when he banked a shot from behind the goal line off Ingram’s chest and in the net. It was Gropp’s 14^th of the year and that would end the scoring in regulation.

The two teams couldn’t score in overtime and that sent it to the marathon shootout. Andrusiak, normally a fourth-liner, was the ninth shooter that Konowalchuk tapped but the coach had confidence in his rookie.

“I used him a few shootouts ago,” Konowalchuk said. “I asked him and he had some confidence that he could score so it was a nice goal against a real good goalie.”

That confidence paid off as he beat Ingram high with a forehanded wrist shot. Toth made the save at the other end and the T-Birds bench emptied to celebrated.

The T-Birds will look to continue their hot streak on Saturday night when they head to Portland for a match up with the Winterhawks.

Notes

• While the T-Birds are four points back of first place, they have more wins than Everett. The Silvertips have 30 and Friday night was Seattle’s 31^st. The Silvertips are struggling and lost their seventh straight game on Friday.

• The shootout win was Seattle’s second of the season and are 2-1 in those decisions.

• While the T-Birds have won seven straight, they also have an eight-game win streak at the ShoWare Center. They haven’t lost a home game since Dec. 30^th against Portland.

• When Seattle faces Portland on Saturday, something will have to give. With Portland’s win in Everett on Friday, they have won six straight.

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