The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Vancouver Giants 5-3 in Western Hockey League play Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center.
Seattle (33-23-3-0) is in second place in the U.S. Division, five points behind the Everett Silvertips. The T-Birds moved into fourth place in the Western Conference race, one point ahead of the Prince George Cougars.
Seattle went in front 1-0 at 5:16 of the first period on a slap shot from Ethan Bear. Donovan Neuls had the puck along the board and passed it to Bear in the high slot. Bear’s slap shot beat Vancouver goalie Ryan Kubic through the legs.
Bear has five goals in the last four games and 17 goals on the season.
Vancouver (23-32-5-2) tied the game 1-1 at 13:37 of the first on Brennan Menell’s power-play goal from Brennan Menell.
The Giants took a 2-1 lead at 3:34 of the second period on Alec Baer’s wrist shot.
Seattle came right back and tied the game 2-2 at 6:08 of the second. Neuls took a shot from the right circle on the rush that Kubic stopped. Cavin Leth crashed the net on the shot and swept the puck under the goalie for the tying goal. Alexandre True had the second assist.
The T-Birds took a 3-2 lead at 8:27 of the second. Nolan Volcan sent the puck to Keegan Kolesar in the left corner. Kolesar centered the puck to Scott Eansor in the slot. Eansor snapped the puck over Kubic’s blocker for his night goal of the season.
The Giants tied the game 3-3 on Tyler Benson’s wrist shot from the right circle.
Turner Ottenbreit put the T-Birds back in front at 8:52 of the third. With the teams playing four-on-four, Ottenbreit pinched down from the left point and took a cross-ice pass from Ryan Gropp. Ottenbreit beat Kubic on the blocker side for his fourth goal of the season.
Jerret Smith scored the T-Birds fifth goal at 13:12 of the third. Smith beat Kubic from the right circle for his ninth goal of the season. True and Neuls had the assists on the goal.
The Giants got a power play with three minutes left in the game and pulled Kubic for a six-on-four power play. Seattle goalie Logan Flodell made several good saves to keep the Giants from the scoring a fourth goal.
Seattle outshot Vancouver 10-4 in the third period and 30-26 in the game.
Flodell made 23 saves on 26 shots and his record is now 19-13-3-0.
Kubic had 25 saves on 30 shots and his record is now 17-21-4-0.
Up next
The T-Birds have three games this weekend. They are in Tri-City to face the Americans on Friday at 7:05 p.m. They host the Everett Silvertips at 6:05 p.m. Saturday and travel to Kamloops to play the Blazers at 6:05 p.m. Sunday.
Tickets are available at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The box office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Bear 17 (Neuls, Leth), 5:16. 2, Vancouver, Menell 7 (Cox, Foster), 13:37 (pp). Penalties – Bondra, Van (hooking), 6:23. Barzal, Sea (hooking), 12:56. Cox, Van (holding), 19:25.
Second period – 3, Seattle, Baer 18 (Bondra, Menell), 3:34. 4, Seattle, Leth 10 (Neuls, True), 6:08. 5, Seattle, Eansor 9 (Kolesar, Volcan), 8:27. Penalties – Allbee, Sea (interference), 11:10.
Third period – 6, Vancouver, Benson 9, 7:50. 7, Seattle, Ottenbreit 4 (Gropp, Barzal), 8:52. 8, Seattle, Smith 9 (True, Neuls), 13:12. Penalties – Smith, Sea (unsportsmanlike conduct), 7:50. Cox, Van (roughing), 7:50. Smith, Sea (hooking), 10:27. Holowko, Sea (holding), 17:00.
Shots on goal – Seattle 8-12-10 30, Vancouver 7-11-8 26. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 26 shots-23 saves (19-13-3-0); Vancouver, Kubic 30-25 (17-21-4-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-2; Vancouver 1-4. A – 4,648. Referees – Trevor Shively, Mike Langin. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Devon Sephton.
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