Alexander True and Donovan Neuls scored shorthanded goals to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 4-3 Western Hockey League victory over the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick on Friday night.
The T-Birds, who have won nine of their last 10 games, are three points behind the Americans for second place in the U.S. Division with five games in hand. The T-Birds are 11 points behind the first-place Everett Silvertips.
Seattle (27-15-3-1) took a 2-0 lead with goals in 1:22 apart just 3:19 into the game.
True carried the puck out of the left corner of the offensive zone on a delayed penalty call against the Americans. True got to the blue line and dropped the puck for Ethan Bear, who deked a forward and skated into the slot. Bear beat Tri-City goalie Rylan Parenteau over the glove for his 15th goal of the season at 1:57 of the first period. Turner Ottenbreit had the second assist.
On the power play, Mathew Barzal held the puck in the Americans with a diving play. Ottenbreit got the puck and skated into the right circle and beat Parenteau on the stick side with a wrist shot at 3:19 of the first. Keegan Kolesar had the second assist.
Tri-City (29-19-3-0) cut the T-Birds lead to one goal at 17:48 of first on a goal from Michael Rasmussen.
Ryan Gropp set up the T-Birds’ third goal, which came shorthanded at 10:29 of the second period. Gropp chased a bad pass by the Americans down the left wing and came in on Parenteau on a breakaway. The goalie made the save, but True was chasing the play and poked the rebound past the goalie for the T-Birds’ third goal.
The Americans made it a one-goal T-Birds lead for a second time, at 15:26 of the second on a goal from Jordan Topping.
Rasmussen tied the game 3-3 at 7:38 of the third period when he tipped a point shot past Seattle goalie Rylan Toth.
Seattle took the lead back at 8:47 of the third on unassisted shorthanded breakaway goal by Neuls, who forced a turnover at center ice along the left boards and came in on Parenteau on a breakaway. Neuls beat Parenteau over the blocker with a wrist shot for his 10th goal of the season.
The T-Birds were called for a tripping penalty with 1:34 left in the game. The Americans pulled Parenteau for an extra attacker and a six-on-four power play advantage.
Toth made three good saves just before the one minute mark the of the third. The Americans called a timeout with just under a minute left. Nolan Volcan, Ottenbreit and Neuls each blocked a shot as the Americans pressed for the tying goal.
Both teams had 11 shots on goal in the third period. Seattle finished with a 30-28 advantage in shots.
Toth finished the game with 25 saves on 28 shots and his record is now 23-15-1-0.
Parenteau had 26 saves and his record is now 18-10-1-0.
Back home
The T-Birds have two games at ShoWare Center this weekend. They play the Everett Silvertips at 7:05 p.m. Saturday and host the Americans at 5:05 p.m. Sunday.
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, Seattle, Bear 15 (True, Ottenbreit), 1:57. 2, Seattle, Ottenbreit 5 (Barzal, Kolesar), 3:19 (pp). 3, Tri-City, Rasmussen 31 (Wotherspoon),17:48. Penalties – O’Reilly, Tri (high-sticking), 1:57. W. Bear, Sea (hooking), 14:38. Neuls, Sea (roughing), 16:00. Geekie, Tri (roughing), 16:00. Topping, Tri (tripping), 18:36.
Second period – 4, Seattle, True 15 (Gropp), 10:29 (sh). 5, Tri-City, Topping 13 (O’Reilly, Rasmussen), 15:26. Penalties – Strand, Sea (slashing), 9:35. Playfair, Tri (interference), 12:26. Andrusiak, Sea (hooking), 17:22. Yorke, Tri (roughing), 19:42. Barzal, Sea (roughing), 19:42.
Third period – 6, Tri-City, Rasmussen 32 (Lukin, Sandhu), 7:48 (pp). 7, Seattle, Neuls 10, 8:47 (sh). Penalties – Bench, Sea (too many men-served by Strand), 5:55. Kolesar, Sea (major-fighting), 8:14. James, Tri (major-fighting), 8:14. Moilanen, Sea (interference), 8:21. Yaremko, Tri (tripping), 10:41. Bear, Sea (tripping), 18:26. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 20:00. Topping, Tri (roughing), 20:00.
Shots on goal – Seattle 6-13-11 30, Tri-City 8-9-11 28. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 28 shots-25 saves (23-15-1-0); Tri-City, Parenteau 30-26 (18-10-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-4; Tri-City 1-5. A – 4,996. Referees – Mark Pearce, Adam Griffiths. Linesmen – Jeremi Del Campo, Steve Fleming.
