Thunderbirds shut out 1-0 by Everett in home opener

KENT – A night after picking up a win in Portland, the T-Birds dropped a tough game to their other rivals.

The Everett Silvertips skated into the ShoWare Center and shut out the T-Birds 1-0 in front of 5,342 fans. Rookie goalie Carter Hart played great, making 26 saves in picking up his first WHL shut out.

The game’s only goal came two minutes into the first period when Graham Millar tipped a point shot from Noah Juulsen past Seattle goalie Taran Kozun (who made 18 saves on the night). That would be all the offense that Hart and the Silvertips needed as the Thunderbirds fell to 1-1-0-0 on the young season.

“Frustrating start,” head coach Steve Konowalchuk said about the game. “We weren’t ready to play at the start and we didn’t compete – not everybody, but we didn’t compete. They got the first goal and in any hockey game, Western Hockey League or National Hockey League, that first goal is so important.”

Everett’s goal was similar to the two goals they scored against the T-Birds in the last preseason game – a tipped-in point shot. Both of those goals came early just like Saturday’s score.

Seattle plays Everett nine more times this season, and clearing players out from in front of the net is something they’ll need to improve on.

“We know they shoot pucks at the net,” Konowalchuk said. “They deflect them, it’s something we talked about, we’ve got to work on it. You’ve got to box out. … We can’t let guys go right in front of our net and get deflections.”

Seattle had its share of chances in this game, but they just couldn’t solve Hart.

“It was tough, especially a home opener like that,” Adam Henry said. “The crowd, there was a lot of energy, a lot of excitement on the bench, but we’ve got to find a way to score.”

Seattle out-shot Everett 26-19 on the night and 15-8 over the final two periods. Despite the shutout, the T-Birds did manage to beat Hart once. Late in the second period, Scott Eansor broke into the Everett zone alone while killing a penalty. He lifted the puck over Hart’s shoulder, only to have it bang off the cross bar and harmlessly away from the net.

“Obviously the score tells the execution wasn’t there,” Henry said. “We had a lot of opportunities where we missed the net, a couple of opportunities where we could have shot and were looking for an extra pass. … The effort was there, we were trying to score but we’ve got to find a way.”

It was that kind of night for Seattle.

Much like the Thunderbirds did against Everett in the preseason, they controlled the game at times, only to find themselves behind and ultimately with a loss. The Silvertips are a tough team to play against. They play stingy defense, force turnovers in the neutral zone and block shots.

With a young team like Seattle, that sounds like a bad match-up.

“I don’t necessarily blame our young guys,” Konowalchuk said. “I think some of our skill guys wanted to free-wheel a little bit too much. They’ve got to know when to do it and when not to do it. In the first period they were not making good decisions.”

Mathew Barzal and Ryan Gropp played well on Saturday night. The two draft-eligible stars generated most of Seattle’s chances, and for Hart to keep the puck out says a lot about the young goalie’s performance.

For the T-Birds, they will need to shake this off and look to find more consistent scoring as they prepare this week for next weekend’s road game in Kennewick against the Tri-City Americans.

Notes

• A night after picking up two power-play goals in Portland, the T-Birds were 0-for-3 with the man advantage on Saturday. Their power play was not as crisp as it was in Portland as they struggled to enter the zone and, for the most part, did not generate as many chances.

Conversely, the T-Birds’ penalty kill was strong. They blanked the Silvertips on all five of their attempts and actually had one of their better scoring chances when Eansor hit the cross bar.

• Seattle’s defense has been perhaps one of the biggest bright spots over the first two games. It has only given up two goals and have held their opponents shots down. With most of its veterans on the back end this should come as no surprise.

• The T-Birds goalie situation is still unsettled. Kozun has started the first two games and played well. It appears he is the No. 1 guy, but there is still uncertainty as to who the back-up will be. Danny Mumaugh was scratched Friday night and Logan Flodell was the back-up. Saturday it was the other way around with Flodell scratched.

Follow Andrew Eide on Twitter @andyeide.

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