T-Birds blast Rockets; Lockhart plays 300th game with Seattle

The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Kelowna Rockets 4-2 Saturday night at ShoWare Center.

Captain Luke Lockhart played his 300th game in a T-Birds uniform Saturday against the Rockets. Lockhart is sixth on the T-Birds all time games played list. The former T-Birds ahead of him are Glen Goodall (399), Tyler Metcalfe (333), Scott Jackson (326), Aaron Gagnon (318) and Rob Dumas (315). Lockhart has 135 career points on 61 goals and 74 assists.

The T-Birds play the Kamloops Blazers at 5 p.m. Sunday at ShoWare Center.

Seattle (13-13-1-0) started the scoring at 7:10 of the first period when Seth Swenson scored his eighth goal of the season. Connor Sanvido knocked the puck past a defender at the center line, and skated up the left side of the rink into the Kelowna (17-9-1-1) zone. He avoided a diving Rockets defenseman and slid a back-hand pass across the crease to Swenson, who put it in the open net to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead.

Seattle then struck again, this time on a power-play goal from Roberts Lipsbergs, 10:26 of the period. After some tough forechecking on the power play, Luke Lockhart got the puck down low to Justin Hickman, who passed to a wide-open Lipsbergs in the slot. He ripped a snap shot low glove side past Rocket’s goalie Jackson Whistle for his 11th goal of the season.

The T-Birds killed off a 5-on-3 power play for Kelowna, preserving the two-goal lead heading into the second period.

Shots in the first period were 11-10 in favor of the Thunderbirds.

Kelowna got a goal back with less than a minute to play in the second period. Rourke Chartier scored his ninth of the season for the Rockets. He was assisted by Damon Severson and Myles Bell, with the goal coming at 19:08.

Shots in the second period were 11-11, and 22-21 Seattle overall heading into the third period.

Kelowna scored at 13:09 of the third to tie the game 2-2. Myles Bell got his 18th of the year and was assisted by Ryan Olsen and Mitchell Wheaton.

Seattle responded quickly and took back the lead through Shea Theodore. Justin Hickman got the puck in the Rocket’s zone, passed it to Riley Sheen who then fed Theodore at the blue line to fire a hard slap shot past Whistle for his seventh of the year. The goal came at the 14:12 mark of the period.

Seattle put the game out of reach minutes later with almost a carbon-copy of their first goal. Sanvido took the puck from Jared Hauf in the neutral zone and skated into the Kelowna zone on his backhand. He jumped over the defender and passed the puck across to Brendan Rouse who put it past Whistle for his fifth of the year and the T-Birds’ fourth of the night.

Shots in the third period were 18-9 Kelowna, and ended 39-31 in favor of the Rockets.

Brandon Glover stopped 37 shots for the Thunderbirds and improved his record to 12-10-1-0.

Whistle stopped 27 shots for Kelowna, and now has a 6-1-0-0 record.

T-Birds single game tickets for the 2012-13 season 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.

T-Birds season tickets are on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Swenson 8 (Sanvido), 7:10. 2, Seattle, Lipsbergs 11 (Hickman, Lockhart), 10:26 (pp). Penalties – Smith, Sea (delay of game), 1:08. Fowlie, Kel (hooking), 8:31. Sanvido, Sea (tripping), 12:23. Sheen, Sea (slashing), 13:45.

Second period – 3, Kelowna, Chartier 9 (Severson, Bell), 19:08. Penalties – Olsen, Kel (checking to the head), 6:56. Foulk, Sea (delay of game), 16:37.

Third period – 4, Kelowna, Bell 18 (Olsen, Wheaton), 13:09. 5, Seattle, Theodore 7 (Sheen, Hickman), 14:12. 6, Seattle, Rouse 5 (Sanvido, Hauf), 16:39. Penalties – Wardley, Sea (interference), 5:01.

Shots on goal – Seattle 11-11-9 31, Kelowna 10-11-18 39. Goalies – Seattle, Glover 39 shots-37 saves (12-10-1-0); Kelowna, Whistle 31-27 (6-1-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-2; Kelowna 0-5. A – 3,378. Referee – Matt Kirk, Curtis Mauroelli. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Chris Sweeting.