Thunderbirds fall to ‘Tips, remain seventh in West playoff race

The Everett Silvertips scored twice in the third period to beat the Thunderbirds 4-3 Saturday night at the ShoWare Center.

Seattle (23-37-7-2, 55 points) remain in seventh place in the Western Conference Playoff standings, one point ahead of the eighth-place Silvertips. The T-Birds are five points ahead of the Prince George Cougars who beat the Tri-City Americans 3-2 in a shootout Saturday night. The Cougars have two games in hand on the T-Birds and Silvertips.

The Thunderbirds next play on Tuesday against Tri-City at the ShoWare Center.

The Thunderbirds got on the scoreboard first, scoring 6:36 seconds into the game. The T-Birds were in their own zone on the penalty kill when Luke Lockhart picked up a loose puck by the blue line and skated up the left boards. He stalled coming into the Everett zone looking for the pass before firing a wrist shot over Austin Lotz’s glove to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead. The goal was unassisted.

Everett (24-39-2-4) managed to tie the game 1-1 on a Thunderbirds’ power play at 16:23. It was a carbon-copy of Lockhart’s rush up the ice as Reid Petryk scored with a wrist shot high past Brandon Glover.

Shots in the first period were 8-7 Seattle as the teams went into the first intermission tied 1-1.

The Thunderbirds retook the lead just 1:13 into the second period after some nice forechecking by Seth Swenson. He won the puck along the boards near the bottom of the left circle and gave it to Connor Honey on the opposite side of the net. Honey skated around and slammed the puck home past Lotz to give the T-Birds a 2-1 lead.

Everett then managed to tie the game 2-2 at the 11:32 mark when Tyler Sandhu scored in front. Kohl Bauml and Mirco Mueller had the assists.

Shots in the second period were 14-9 Everett, with the two-period total 21-17 Silvertips.

The Silvertips took a 3-2 lead at the 12:39 mark of the third period through Tyler Sandhu’s power-play goal. Joshua Winquist and Landon Oslanski had the assists.

Off the ensuing faceoff, Adam Kambeitz won the draw back to Shea Theodore who skated up the right boards into the Everett zone. He drove wide around the defenseman, waited with the puck going through the crease and slammed the puck home in the empty net as Lotz went for the poke check. The goal came at 12:47 and put the teams level at 3-3.

Everett then scored on a delayed penalty call against the T-Birds. Dawson Leedahl managed to poke the puck past Glover at 17:03 to put the Silvertips up 4-3. Oslanski and Connor Cox were given the assists as Everett went on to win by that margin.

Shots in the third period were 14-10 Seattle, and ended 31-31.

Brandon Glover stopped 27 of 31 shots in net for Seattle and now has a record of 22-28-5-2 on the year.

Austin Lotz stopped 28 of 31 shots for Everett and improved his record to 15-18-2-1.

T-Birds 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.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Lockhart 23 (unassisted), 6:36 (sh). 2, Everett, Petryk 15 (unassisted), 16:23 (sh). Penalties – Elliot, Sea (fighting), 3:44. Soumelidis, Evt (fighting), 3:44. Sanvido, Sea (slashing), 6:19. Green, Sea (cross-checking), 11:31. Leedahl, Evt (cross-checking, fighting), 15:32. Wardley, Sea (fighting), 15:32.

Second period – 3, Seattle, Honey 15 (Swenson), 1:13. 4, Everett, Sandhu 15 (Bauml, Mueller), 11:32. Penalties – Sandhu, Evt (embellishment), 12:07. Foulk, Sea (hooking), 12:07. Kambeitz, Sea (high-sticking), 12:07.

Third period – 5, Everett, Sandhu 16 (Winquist, Oslanski), 12:39 (pp). 6, Seattle, Theodore 18 (Kambeitz), 12:47. 7, Everett, Leedahl 3 (Oslanski, Cox), 17:03. Penalties – Glover, Sea (delay of game), 10:52. Kambeitz, Sea (misconduct), 18:22. Wardley, Sea (major-charging, game misconduct), 18:22. Glover, Sea (leaving the crease, instigator, major-fighting, game misconduct), 18:22. Mappin, Eve (slashing, roughing), 18:22. Lotz, Evt (major-fighting), 18:22. Mueller, Evt (tripping), 18:33. Lipsbergs, Sea (goaltender interference), 19:30. Winquist, Evt (roughing), 19:30.

Shots on goal – Seattle 8-9-14 31, Everett 7-14-10 31. Goalies – Seattle, Glover 31 shots-27 saves (22-28-5-2); Everett, Lotz 31-28 (15-18-2-1). Power plays – Seattle 0-1; Everett 1-4. A – 5,086. Referees – Brett Montsion, Sean Raphael. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Ryan Gibbons.