The line of Ryan Gropp, Mathew Barzal and Keegan Kolesar combined for three goals and four assists Saturday night at the ShoWare Center to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-2 Western Hockey League victory over the Victoria Royals.
The T-Birds improved to 5-1-1-0 with their fourth consecutive win.
Barzal has two goals and six assists in the last four games. Kolesar has five goals and seven assists in the last seven games. Gropp has two goals and two assists in the last four games.
Seattle goalie Logan Flodell had 21 saves on 22 shots and his record is now 3-0-1-0.
Seattle (5-1-1-0) went in front 1-0 at 6:34 at of the first period on a power-play goal from Barzal. Ethan Bear sent the puck from the left point to Kolesar behind the Victoria net. Kolesar centered the puck to Barzal skating from left to right into the slot. Barzal beat Victoria goalie Coleman Vollrath over the glove for his second goal of the season.
The T-Birds took a 2-0 lead on a greasy goal from Gropp.
The Gropp-Barzal-Kolesar line struck on their very next shift to make it a 3-0 T-Birds lead. Barzal got a loose puck inside the Victoria blue line. Barzal made a drop pass to Kolesar coming into the zone. Kolesar had the Gropp on his left but elected to shoot and beat Vollrath over the blocker.
Seattle led 25-15 in shots after two periods, outshooting Victoria 15-8 in the second period.
Victoria (7-3-0-0) replaced Vollrath with Griffen Outhouse to start the third period. Vollrath made 22 saves on 25 shots and his record falls to 7-3-0-0.
Ethan Price scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at 2:07 of the third period to get Victoria’s first goal.
Jared Dmytriw scored off a cross slot pass at 9:31 of the third to cut the T-Birds’ lead to one goal.
Nolan Volcan put the T-Birds back in front by two goals when he scored at 15:16 of the third. Jamal Watson broke up ice on a two-on-one break with Volcan on his left. Watson took a shot that was blocked by a Victoria defenseman. Watson got the puck back and took another shot that Outhouse stopped. Volcan was at the left post and poked the puck past Outhouse for his third goal of the year.
The T-Birds had to kill off back-to-back penalties after their fourth goal to seal the win.
Outhouse ended the game with 13 saves on 14 shots.
In the pink
The T-Birds GLOW Valley Medical Pink The Rink night is Wednesday, Oct. 21, against the Tri-City Americans at 7:05 p.m. at the ShoWare Center. The Thunderbirds will be wearing special themed jerseys that will be auctioned off during the game to support uncompensated care at the Breast Center at Valley Medical.
Get our tickets
Tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.
Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Barzal 2 (Kolesar, Bear), 6:34 (pp). Penalties – Barzal, Sea (goaltender interference), 3:51. Dmytriw, Vic (checking from behind), 6:14. Ibragimov, Vic (hooking), 18:07
Second period – 2, Seattle, Gropp 2 (Kolesar, Barzal), 15:51. 3, Seattle, Kolesar 5 (Barzal), 18:23. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (interference), :39. Kolesar, Sea (high-sticking), 13:27. Hicketts, Vic (roughing), 18:59. Ottenbreit, Sea (major-fighting), 18:59. Forsberg, Vic (major-fighting), 18:59.
Third period – 4, Victoria, Price 2, 2:07. 5, Victoria, Dmytriw 1 (Fisher, Hicketts), 9:31. 6, Seattle, Volcan 3 (Watson), 15:16.Penalties – Walker, Vic (goaltender interference), 2:19. Kolesar, Sea (high-sticking), 16:29. Smith, Sea (interference), 18:22.
Shots on goal – Seattle 10-15-14 39, Victoria 7-8-8 23. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 23 shots-21 saves (3-0-1-0); Victoria, Vollrath 25-22 (7-3-0-0), Outhouse 14-13. Power plays – Seattle 1-2; Victoria 0-5. A – 3,009. Referees – Brett Iverson, Dexter Rasmussen. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Al Creigh.
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