Thunderbirds sweep two-game stop at Prince George

Seven players score in 7-4 win over Cougars | VIDEO

January 18, 2018 10:30 am
The Thunderbirds’ Nikita Malukhin. COURTESY PHOTO, Brian Liesse/T-Birds

The Seattle Thunderbirds received goals from seven different players to defeat the Prince George Cougars in the second game of a two-game series at the CN Centre in British Columbia on Wednesday night.

The T-Birds defeated the Cougars 5-2 Tuesday in the first game, finishing 4-0 in the season series against Prince George.

Seattle is back home at the accesso ShoWare Center on Friday to play the Kelowna Rockets at 7:35 p.m. They host the Swift Current Broncos at 7:05 p.m. Saturday in game featuring the annual Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss presented by WARM 106.9 FM.

The T-Birds (22-16-4-2) are tied for third place in the U.S. Division with the Tri-City Americans. They are six points behind the second-place Portland Winterhawks and eight points behind the first-place Everett Silvertips.

On Wednesday, the teams combined to score five goals in six minutes during the first period.

Seattle opened the scoring at 7:53 of the period. Dillon Hamaliuk took a shot from the slot that Prince George goalie Tyler Gauthier stopped. Mike MacLean was outside the crease and banged the rebound under the goalie. Jarret Tyszka had the second assist. The goal was MacLean’s first as a T-Bird.

Prince George (17-22-4-3) tied the game a minute later on a goal from Aaron Boyd. Josh Curtis had the only assist.

Prince George turned the puck over in the high slot and Matthew Wedman got the loose puck. Wedman came in all alone on Gauthier and beat the goalie with a move to his backhand at 9:36 for his eighth goal of the season.

The Cougars tied the game 2-2 at 11:11 on a goal from Max Kryski. Vladislav Mikhalchuk and Ryan Schoettler had the assists.

Josh Maser scored a power-play goal at 13:53 of the first to give the Cougars a 3-2 lead. Jackson Leppard and Ilijah Colina had the assists.

Seattle outshot Prince George 18-7 in the first period.

The T-Birds tied the game 3-3 at 7:14 of the second period. Nikita Malukhin took a shot from the left circle that trickled through Gauthier’s pad and into the crease. Jaxan Kaluski was skating hard looking for a rebound and slammed the loose puck into the net. MacLean had the second assist on Kaluski’s first goal as a T-Bird.

Seattle took a 4-3 lead on Sami Moilanen’s power-play goal at 11:29. Moilanen took a pass in the slot from Donovan Neuls and snapped a wrist shot past Gauthier for his 18th goal of the season. Nolan Volcan had the second assist.

The T-Birds outshot the Cougars 13-7 in the second period and led 31-14 in shots after two periods.

Hamaliuk extended the T-Birds’ lead to 5-3 at 4:55 of the third period with a four-on-four goal. Jake Lee carried the puck into the Cougars zone and behind the net. Noah Philp got the puck and found Hamaliuk on the inside edge of the right circle. Hamaliuk brought the puck to his backhand and put the puck over Gauthier for his 11th goal of the season.

The Cougars’ Jack Sander scored a power-play goal at 7:47 of the third to cut the T-Birds’ lead to one goal. Schoettler and Jared Bethune had the assists.

The T-Birds took the two-goal lead back at 16:31 of the third on Zack Andrusiak’s power-play goal. Neuls had the puck on the left-wing boards and centered it to Moilanen in the slot. Moilanen moved the puck to Andrusiak in the right circle. Andrusiak beat Gauthier with a wrist shot for his 19th goal of the season.

Volcan scored at 17:39 of the third to get the T-Birds’ seventh goal of the game. Andrusiak took a shot from the right of the net that Gauthier got a piece of, but the puck rolled behind him. Volcan poked the puck in while being knocked down to get his 20th goal of the season. Wedman had the second assist.

Seattle outshot Prince George 13-8 in the third period and 44-22 in the game.

Gauthier had 37 saves on 44 shots and his record is 5-9-1-1.

T-Birds are on sale online on the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, MacLean 1 (Hamaliuk, Tyszka), 7:53. 2, Prince George, Boyd 9 (Curtis), 8:53. 3, Seattle, Wedman 8, 9:36. 4, Prince George, Kryski 5 (Mikhalchuk, Schoettler), 11:11. 5, Prince George, Maser 21 (Leppard), 13:53 (pp). Penalties – Lakusta, PG (delay of game), 1:56. Lee, Sea (tripping), 5:38. Terretta, Sea (hooking), 8:47. Azhgirei, PG (embellishment), 8:47. Bench, Sea (too many men-served by Malukhin), 12:04. Sander, PG (delay of game), 16:52. Schoettler, PG (misconduct – mouthguard), 19:00.

Second period – 6, Seattle, Kaluski 2 (Malukhin, MacLean), 7:14. 7, Seattle, Moilanen 18 (Neuls, Volcan), 11:29 (pp). Penalties – Sander, PG (tripping), 4:03. Bench, Sea (too many men-served by Malukhin), 8:14. Lakusta, PG (interference), 10:03. Bench, PG (too many men-served by Mikhalchuk),13:00. Tyszka, Sea (high-sticking), 19:23.

Third period – 8, Seattle, Hamaliuk 11 (Philp, Lee), 4:55. 9, Prince George, Sander 2 (Schoettler, Bethune), 7:47 (pp). 10, Seattle, Andrusiak 19 (Moilanen, Neuls), 16:31. 11, Seattle, Volcan 20 (Andrusiak, Wedman), 17:39. Penalties – Strand, Sea (tripping), 4:31. Maser, PG (embellishment), 4:31. Moilanen, Sea (slashing), 5:57. Curtis, PG (tripping), 16:16.

Shots on goal – Seattle 18-13-13 44, Prince George 7-7-8 22. Goalies – Seattle, Luding 22 shots-18 saves (5-10-1-0); Prince George, Gauthier 44-37 (5-9-1-1). b– Seattle 2-6; Prince George 2-5. A – 2,454. Referees – Brett Iverson, Trevor Peluk. Linesmen – Nick Albinati, Josh Albinati.