Goalie Cole Schwebius had 21 saves to help lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Friday night.<\/p>\n
Schwebius had six saves in the first period, seven saves in the second period and eight more in the third period to record his first WHL win. He is 1-2-1-0 this season.<\/p>\n
It took 14 seconds for Seattle (10-13-3-0) to take a 1-0 lead. Off the opening faceoff defenseman Jake Lee passed the puck up the left wing to Nolan Volcan, who tipped the puck into the Americans zone. Matthew Wedman chased down the puck behind the Tri-City net and won a possession battle. Wedman sent the puck to Zack Andrusiak, who kicked the puck with his right skate to his stick, in the low right circle. Andrusiak beat Tri-City goalie Beck Warm through the legs for his 19th goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Tri-City (14-12-1-1) tied the game 1-1 at 9:55 of the second period on a power-play goal by Nolan Yaremko. Kyle Olson and Aaron Hyman had the assists.<\/p>\n
A pretty passing play from Noah Philp and Andrej Kukuca set up Dillon Hamaliuk for the go-ahead goal at 1:42 of the third period. Philp had the puck in the left circle and headed toward Warm, then passed the puck behind the Tri-City net to Kukuca, who quickly sent the puck to Hamaliuk in the slot. Hamaliuk beat Warm over the glove for his ninth goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Simon Kubicek made it a 3-1 T-Birds lead at 11:24 of the third. Kubicek took a slap shot from the point that missed the net, rebounded off the end boards and then off Warm and into the Tri-City net. Jake Lee and Kukuca had the assists on Kubicek’s seventh goal of the season.<\/p>\n
Playing 4-on-4, the Americans pulled Warm with 3:23 left in the game. Wedman won a puck battle in the neutral zone, got to the red line and sent the puck toward the Tri-City net. The puck just snuck inside the right post at 17:39 for Seattle’s fourth goal of the game. The goal was Wedman’s ninth of the season and was unassisted.<\/p>\n
Seattle outshot Tri-City 13-8 in the third period and 43-22 in the game.<\/p>\n
Warm had 39 saves on 42 shots, and his record is 13-12-1-0.<\/p>\n