Scott Eansor had a goal and two assists to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-3 Western Hockey League win over the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia on Saturday night.
Goalie Rylan Toth made 26 saves on 29 shot to get the win and improve his record to 6-8-0-0.
Defenseman Turner Ottenbreit had three assists in the game and is the first T-Bird with three assists in a game this season.
Seattle (8-8-0-1) went in front 1-0 at 9:53 of the first period. Mathew Barzal cleared passed the puck in the Seattle zone to Ryan Gropp, who got around a defenseman in the neutral zone and carried the puck into the left corner. Gropp stopped up and passed the puck to Ethan Bear, who walked the blue and took a slap shot that beat Vancouver goalie Ryan Kubic on the blocker side.
Gropp extended his team high point streak to eight games with the assist on Bear’s fourth goal of the season.
Barzal’s assist was his first point of the season and came in his first game with the T-Birds after returning from the New York Islanders.
Vancouver outshot Seattle 11-5 in the first period.
The T-Birds took a 2-0 lead 1:10 into the second period on Elijah Brown’s first goal of the season. Alexander True was heading behind the Vancouver net, left to right, and centered the puck to Brown on top of the crease. Brown backhanded the puck over Kubic’s left shoulder for the goal. Ottenbreit had the second assist.
Vancouver (9-12-0-0) cut the T-Birds lead to one at 3:01 of the second period on Matt Barberis’ unassisted goal.
The Giants outshot the T-Birds 9-5 in the second period and led 20-10 in shots after two periods.
Eansor put the T-Birds in front 3-1 at 5:41 of the third period. Ottenbreit sent the puck to Eansor in the left circle. Eansor walked out of the left circle and took a shot from a sharp angle. Kubic made the save but Eansor skated hard for the rebound just outside the crease and slid the puck under the goalie. Donovan Neuls had the second assist.
Seattle made it a three-goal lead at 8:18 of the third on Nolan Volcan’s seventh goal of the season. Eansor came out of the right corner and curled into the right circle. Eansor took a wrist shot that went through Kubic’s legs and was heading towards the goal line. Volcan dove from the right of the crease and poked the puck across the line.
Vancouver cut the lead to two goals at 10:21 of the third on a goal from Marcus Kichton. Tyler Benson and Dmitry Osipov had the assists.
James Malm made it a one-goal T-Birds lead when he scored on a wrist shot with 1:52 left in the game. Radovan Bondra and Brendan Semchuk had the assists.
The Giants pulled Kubic after their third goal looking for the tying goal. Eansor set up Neuls in the Giants zone and Neuls hit the empty net for his fourth goal of the season.
Seattle outshot Vancouver 12-9 in the third period. Vancouver finished with a 29-22 advantage in shot.
Kubic made 17 saves on 21 shots and his record is now 8-10-0-0.
Visit to Spokane, then back home
The T-Birds’ next game is 7:05 p.m. Tuesday at the Spokane Chiefs. The T-Birds’ next home game is Friday against the Lethbridge Hurricanes at 7:35 p.m. at ShoWare Center.
Purchase single-game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets may be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Bear 5 (Gropp, Barzal), 9:53. Penalties – Gropp, Sea (hooking), 4:45. Kichton, Van (tripping), 7:00. Harsch, Sea (high sticking), 12:18.
Second period – 2, Seattle, Brown 1 (True, Ottenbreit), 1:10. 3, Vancouver, Barberis 2, 3:01. Penalties – Gropp, Sea (high-sticking), 6:48. Brown, Sea (tripping), 15:54.
Third period – 4, Seattle, Eansor 7 (Ottenbreit, Neuls), 5:40. 5, Seattle, Volcan 7 (Eansor, Ottenbreit), 8:18. 6, Vancouver, Kichton 1 (Benson, Osipov), 10:21. 7, Vancouver, Malm 6 (Bondra, Semchuk), 18:08. 8, Seattle, Neuls 4 (Eansor), 19:48 (en). Penalties – Ottenbreit, Sea (tripping), 14:58.
Shots on goal – Seattle 5-5-12 22, Vancouver 11-9-9 29. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 29 shots-26 saves (6-8-0-0); Vancouver, Kubic 21-17 (8-10-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-1; Vancouver 0-5. A – 4,225. Referees – Adam Byblow, Dexter Rasmussen. Linesmen – Michael McGowan, Devon Sephton.
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