Blazers skate past Thunderbirds in overtime | WHL

Bear, Barzal and Gropp score in 4-3 road loss at Kamloops

Kamloops goalie Connor Ingram made 52 saves to lead the Blazers to a 4-3 overtime win over the Seattle Thunderbirds in a Western Hockey League game Wednesday night at the Sandman Centre in British Columbia.

Deven Sideroff scored the overtime game-winning goal for the Blazers on the power play at 1:03 of the extra period.

The T-Birds had a season-high 55 shots on goal in the game – 18 shots in the first period, 20 shots in the second and 17 shots in the third period.

The T-Birds have back-to-back home games at the ShoWare Center this weekend. They play the Kootenay Ice at 7:35 p.m. Friday and the Medicine Hat Tigers at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

Kamloops (15-12-1-0) jumped out to a 1-0 lead 17 seconds into the first period on Rudolfs Balcers’ goal.

Seattle (13-9-2-1) tied the game 1-1 with 18 second left in the first period. Scott Eansor passed the puck to Nolan Volcan on the right wing on a two-on-two rush. Volcan charged the net with the puck and got a shot off. Ethan Bear put the rebound past Kamloops goalie Connor Ingram for his eighth goal of the season.

The T-Birds outshot the Blazers 18-5 in the first period.

Mathew Barzal put the T-Birds in front 2-1 at 7:50 of the second period. Ryan Gropp got around a Blazer defenseman in the neutral zone and entered the Kamloops zone on the left wing. Gropp took the puck to the net and his shot rebounded off Ingram’s left pad to Barzal just outside the crease. Barzal put the puck over Ingram for his second goal of the season.

The Blazers tied the game 2-2 at 19:07 of the second on an unassisted shorthanded goal from Sideroff.

Seattle led 38-9 in shots after two periods by outshooting Kamloops 20-4 in the second period.

Spencer Bast scored two minutes into the third period to give the Blazers a 3-2 lead.

Gropp tied the game 3-3 with a power-play goal at the five-minute mark of the third. Barzal had the puck in left circle and crossed the puck to Gropp in the right circle. Gropp beat Ingram with a wrist shot over the goalie’s glove for his sixth goal of the season.

The T-Birds outshot the Blazers 17-9 in the third period and 55-21 in the game.

Seattle goalie Matt Berlin made 17 saves on 21 shots and his record is 3-0-1-0.

Tickets

Fans may purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Kamloops, Balcers 16 (Pilon, Vala), :17. 2, Seattle, Bear 8 (Eansor, Volcan), 19:24. Penalties – Bishop, Kam (slashing), 7:17. Vala, Kam (interference), 9:46.

Second period – 3, Seattle, Barzal 2 (Gropp), 7:50. 4, Kamloops, Sideroff 13, 19:07 (sh). Penalties – Balcers, Kam (tripping), 8:47. Shirley, Kam (slashing), 17:17.

Third period – 5, Kamloops, Bast 5 (Shepard, McDonald), 2:00. 6, Seattle, Gropp 6 (Barzal, Kolesar), 5:00 (pp). Penalties – Ormsby, Sea (roughing), 3:13. Shepard, Kam (double minor-roughing), 3:13. Davidson, Kam (high-sticking), 6:49. Eansor, Sea (tripping), 19:30.

Overtime – 7, Kamloops, Sideroff 14 (Pilon, Shirley), 1:03 (pp). Penalties – No penalties.

Shots on goal – Seattle 18-20-17-0 55, Kamloops 5-4-9-3 21. Goalies – Seattle, Berlin 21 shots-17 saves (3-0-1-0); Kamloops, Ingram, 55-52 (12-9-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-5; Kamloops 1-2. A – 3,184. Referees – Jeff Ingram, Nick Swaine. Linesmen – Riley Balson, Spencer Lockert.