Andrej Kukuca had two goals Friday afternoon to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Kootenay Ice at the Red Lion Hotels’ Preseason Tournament at the Toyota Center in Kennewick.<\/p>\n
Kukuca put the T-Birds (3-2) in front 1-0 just 1:15 into the first period. Noah Philp and Tyler Carpendale had the assist on Kukuca’s third goal of the preseason.<\/p>\n
Seattle extended the lead to 2-0 at 16:51 of the first on Philp’s first goal of the preseason. Zack Andrusiak had the only assist on the goal.<\/p>\n
The T-Birds outshot the Ice 12-6 in the first period.<\/p>\n
Kootenay cut the lead to one goal at 15:27 of the second period on a goal from Gunnar Wegleitner. Jaeger White and Jonathan Smart had the assists.<\/p>\n
Both teams had eight shots on goal in the second period and Seattle led 20-14 in shots after two periods.<\/p>\n
Kukuca scored on the power play at 16:02 of the third period to give the T-Birds an insurance goal. Simon Kubicek and Graeme Bryks had the assists.<\/p>\n
Kukuca has a five-game point streak with four goals and four assists in the last five preseason games.<\/p>\n
Seattle outshot Kootenay 28-25 in the game.<\/p>\n
Seattle goalie Cole Schwebius had 24 saves on 25 shots and his preseason record is 1-1-0-0.<\/p>\n
Kootenay goalie Jesse Makaj had 25 saves on 28 shots and his preseason record is 0-1-0-0.<\/p>\n
Up next<\/strong><\/p>\n The T-Birds wrap up preseason play with back-to-back games against the Everett Silvertips – on Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. at the accesso ShoWare Center, and Saturday at 7 p.m. on the road.<\/p>\n The T-Birds open the regular season against the Portland Winterhawks at 6:05 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22 at the ShoWare Center.<\/p>\n