Colin Smith scored 25 seconds into overtime to give the Kamloops Blazers a hard-fought 4-3 overtime victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds Sunday night at the ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The first period saw both teams head into the locker room tied at 0-0 with Kamloops (15-0-0-1) holding a 15-13 advantage in shots.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The second period saw a change of fortunes for both teams as a six-goal outpouring put the Thunderbirds and Blazers level at 3-3 heading into the third period.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle’s Connor Honey opened the scoring at 1:12 of the second after his shot from the left corner hit off Kozun’s left skate and caromed in. Riley Sheen and Luke Lockhart assisted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Seattle (7-5-1-0) pushed the lead to 2-0 after some great puck movement in the Blazer’s end. Shea Theodore dropped a pass to Forsberg who rushed in the zone and fed Brenden Rouse who was wide open on the left side of the net. He put it in at 2:22 for his third goal of the season.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kamloops came roaring back after JC Lipon scored a power-play goal for the Blazers at 8:19 and Sam Grist got a deflected shot past Brandon Glover to tie the game 2-2 at 9:32.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Shea Theodore restored the lead for Seattle after he showcased his wide range of skills. He got to a Blazer clearing attempt in the T-Birds zone, skated around the Seattle net and surged up the right wing into the Blazers’ zone. Theodore faked inside, went outside and put a hard wrist shot above Kozun’s blocker and off his water bottle. It was Theodore’s fourth goal of the year coming at 10:30 and was unassisted.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kamloops tied the game at 3-3 when JC Lipon scored his second of the game at 13:32 of the period. Colin Smith and Marek Hrbas had the assists.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Shots in the second period were 12-8 in favor of Seattle.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The third period saw a bevy of chances for both teams stopped by good defensive play and solid goaltending on both sides. The Thunderbirds killed off a penalty after Evan Wardley closed his hand on the puck in the T-Birds zone, but with no goals scored the game headed into overtime.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Shots for the period were 16-4 in favor of Kamloops, and the total after three periods was 39-29 Kamloops.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Smith won the game for Kamloops :25 into the 4-on-4 overtime period. His 13th goal of the season was assisted by Tim Bozon and Tlyer Hansen.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Kamloops scored on the first shot in overtime, with the final shot tally 40-29 Blazers.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
The Thunderbirds next play the Spokane Chiefs on Tuesday in Spokane at 7:05 p.m.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n