Thunderbirds play hard but fall in shoot out to Spokane

KENT – The Thunderbirds found themselves in a tough spot Tuesday night and hung on to scrape out a point.

Playing most of the game with only three defensemen, the T-Birds lost to the Spokane Chiefs 3-2 in a shootout in front of 4,105 fans at the ShoWare Center. Seattle got an excellent performance by goalie Taran Kozun, who stopped 32 shots and came up big to help the depleted group in front of him. Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp chipped in goals but the T-Birds could not convert in the shootout and ended the night with just the one point in the standings.

In the shootout, Spokane’s Adam Helewka was able to beat Kozun with a back-hand to secure the win.

Despite the loss, the T-Birds turned in a gritty effort on Tuesday night.

By the end of the first period, they were down to three defenseman as only Jerret Smith, Sahvan Khaira and newcomer Scott Allan remained to finish out the game. That meant those three would have to play heavy minutes and it also meant that captain Justin Hickman would have to step in and play defense, a position that is unfamiliar to him.

“I’ve never played D a shift in my life so all props to Kozun and Smith,” Seattle’s captain said. “They talked to me all night and they were really rock solid. They made it easier on me.”

The way they lost the defenseman was an act of frustration for the T-Birds.

Already missing Evan Wardley to suspension, Seattle started losing guys early in the game. Ethan Bear got in a scrap with Riley Whitingham and ended up with a giant gash over his eye. He left the game and did not return.

Later in the period, Turner Ottenbreit was hit along the boards by Spokane’s Jacob Cardiff and was shaken up. He struggled to get on his skates and crawled his way back to the bench. A few minutes later Jared Hauf was whistled for a questionable 5-minute major penalty for checking to the head that not only left Seattle short handed, but cost Hauf the rest of the game.

Seattle’s bench was livid with what it thought was a head shot to Ottenbreit followed up by a bad call on Hauf.

“Should have been a 5-minute major on their guy,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said after. “He elbows our guy in the head and we end up getting a five. They’ve got to be called better, it’s just that simple. That’s a huge swing in the game. (The Hauf penalty) happens quick, the one I’m more frustrated with is the blatant elbow. They want to talk about head shots, we’ve got a guy suspended for head shots and they don’t call that, it’s unbelievable.”

With one defenseman already serving a suspension, the league will review the Hauf penalty to determine if another suspension is warranted. The call was a questionable one as Hauf hit Spokane’s Liam Stewart with a big open-ice hit that seemed legal at the time. Stewart was not hurt on the play. In the past, the league has reduced the severity of the original call after review and that is something that the T-Birds may lobby for in this situation, but that isn’t going to satisfy Konowalchuk.

“It doesn’t matter what we say to the league,” he said. “They do what they want, honestly, it doesn’t matter.”

Down to three defenseman and facing a 5-minute Spokane power play, the game was in the balance at the end of the first period. Lost in all the mayhem with the officials was the resiliency of the T-Birds. They managed to hold Spokane without a shot on the power play and ended up taking the lead on a highlight-reel goal by Barzal.

He stole the puck off of a Spokane stick and pushed it ahead, down the ice. He took off and out-raced two Chiefs to scoop it up and skate in alone on goalie Garret Hughson. Barzal deked a couple of times, got Hughson down and scored his fourth goal in as many games and first career short-handed goal.

To start the second period, Hickman moved to the blue line to give Seattle four guys on the back end. By the end of the night, he, Smith, Allan and Khaira logged heavy minutes and were visibly exhausted.

The Chiefs managed to tie the game shortly after the power play ended, early in the second period, when Kailer Yamamoto used his speed to get past Seattle’s defense and flip a pass to Blair Oneschuck for the equalizer. The T-Birds would regain the lead after Gropp stole a puck at his own blue line and fired a nice wrist shot past Hughson for his fifth goal of the season.

Spokane would tie the game back up on the power play as Whittingham found a loose puck during a scramble and banged it home.

For the rest of the game and overtime, a worn-out T-Birds team hung on to keep the game even. Their remaining defensemen were getting tired and their forward group was forced to drop back and help the play in their own end. With Seattle’s bench missing several guys, the Chiefs took a bunch of liberties with Seattle’s players, knowing that the T-Birds couldn’t get in any more penalty troubles.

With the two teams turning around and playing again in Spokane Wednesday night, might there be some fireworks?

“Discipline will be key,” Konowalchuk said about Wednesday’s game. “We’re going (to Spokane) to win two points, we’re just going to go win two points.”

Notes

• About two hours before the game, the WHL announced that defenseman Evan Wardley was suspended for seven games after his checking-to-the-head penalty Saturday in Portland.

• On Monday the team picked up defenseman Scott Allan from Medicine Hat and the 18-year-old from Colorado wasted no time getting game action – a lot of game action. He arrived in Seattle at 1 p.m. Tuesday, got a few instructions from the T-Birds’ coaching staff before suiting up and being forced into playing heavy minutes.

• After the game there was no update on the status of Ottenbreit or Bear, so it’s unclear what Seattle’s defensive situation will be Wednesday night in Spokane. If either of those players can not play, look for Luke Osterman to return to the lineup and back to his original position to help out.

• Now would be a great time for the T-Birds to get the services of Shea Theodore back. The defenseman is still in Anaheim with the Ducks, rehabbing an elbow injury. He was originally listed as out four-to-six weeks and we are just now getting to that window.

• While Barzal extended his goal scoring streak to four games and his point streak to five straight games, Ethan Bear’s three-game scoring streak came to end with his early exit.

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