Calgary denies T-Birds in OT, 4-3

The Calgary Hitmen won a hard-fought game, 4-3 over the Seattle Thunderbirds in overtime Saturday night at the ShoWare Center.

Seattle (19-32-5-1) has lost six straight and nine of its last 10 games.

The T-Birds next play the Vancouver Giants at 7:35 p.m. Friday at the ShoWare Center.

The Thunderbirds got on the scoreboard 3:58 into the game. Connor Honey started a T-Birds breakout and passed the puck to Roberts Lipsbergs who skated up the left boards into the Hitmen zone. He slid a pass to Alexander Delnov driving to the net who then beat Calgary goalie Chris Driedger with a low shot to make it 1-0 Seattle.

The same line struck again at the 5:54 mark after a nice spell of contained pressure in the Hitmen zone. Honey got the puck in the corner and took several Hitmen defensemen with him before sliding a backhand pass to Delnov on the other side of the net. Lipsbergs was left wide open in the slot and Delnov found him to put away his 21st goal of the season and give the T-Birds a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.

Shots in the first period were 11-9 in favor of the Thunderbirds.

Calgary made it 2-1 when Brooks Macek scored on an odd-man rush. Jake Virtanen and Aex Roach were credited with the assists coming at 3:36 of the second.

The Hitmen managed to tie the game 2-2 during a four-minute T-Birds power play. Cody Sylvester scored an unassisted shorthanded goal at the 15:35 mark, taking the teams into the third period knotted at two.

Shots for the second period were 15-8 in favor of Seattle, with the two-period total 26-17 T-Birds.

In the third period, the Thunderbirds broke through on the power play to make it 3-2 10:27 into the period. Jesse Forsberg and Adam Kambeitz assisted Riley Sheen, whose slap shot was deflected past Driedger. It was Sheen’s 11th of the year.

The Hitmen came back, however, and tied the game 3-3 when Sylvester notched his second of the night at the 16:27 mark. Brassart and Macek had the assists.

Shots in the third period were 13-13, with Seattle leading 39-30 heading into overtime.

In overtime, Victor Rask scored on the power play 46 seconds into overtime to win it for Calgary.

Calgary goaltender Chris Driedger stopped 36 of 39 shots for the Hitmen, and improved his record to 27-12-1-2.

Seattle goalie Danny Mumaugh stopped 27 of 31 shots and now has a record of 0-5-1-0 on the Season.

T-Birds single tickets are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Delnov 17 (Lipsbergs, Honey), 3:58. 2, Seattle, Lipsbergs 21 (Delnov, Honey), 5:54. Penalties – Elliot, Sea (cross-checking), 6:33.

Second period – 3, Calgary, Macek 26 (Virtanen, Roach), 3:36. 4, Calgary, Sylvester 29 (unassisted), 15:35. Penalties – Sylvester, Cal (goaltender interference), 5:25. Humphries, Cal (tripping), 10:24. Humphries, Cal (roughing, unsportsmanlike conduct), 14:02. Rask, Cal (unsportsmanlike conduct), 20:00. Zgraggen, Cal (roughing), 20:00. Honey, Sea (roughing), 20:00.

Third period – 5, Seattle, Sheen 11 (Kambeitz, Forsberg), 10:27 (pp). 6, Calgary, Sylvester 30 (Brassart, Macek), 16:27.Penalties – Calladine, Cal (slashing), 8:49. Brassart, Cal (slashing), 13:56. Hauf, Sea (tripping), 19:46.

Overtime – 7, Calgary, Rask 7 (Macek, Roach), :46 (pp). Penalties – Cal (game misconduct), :46.

Shots on goal – Seattle 11-15-13-0 39, Calgary 9-8-13-1 31. Goalies – Seattle, Mumaugh 31 shots-27 saves (0-5-1-0); Calgary, Driedger 39-36 (27-12-1-2). Power plays – Seattle 1-7; Calgary 1-2. A – 3,399. Referees – Ian Croft, Curtis Marouelli. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Kevin Boris.