Goalie Liam Hughes had 41 saves to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-1 Western Hockey League win over the Vancouver Giants at the Langley Events Centre in British Columbia on Saturday night.
Hughes improves to 7-2-1-0 with eight saves in the first period, 17 saves in the second period and 16 more in the third period.
The T-Birds and Hughes killed off seven Vancouver power plays. They have shut down 18 consecutive opponents’ power plays and 25 of the last 26 opponents’ power plays.
Seattle (7-3-2-0) took a 1-0 lead at 8:08 of the first period on Matthew Wedman’s fourth goal of the season. Tyrel Bauer chipped the puck off the rights boards in the T-Birds zone to Andrej Kukuca, creating a three-on-two break. Kukuca crossed the blue line and dropped puck Nolan Volcan, who took a hard wrist shot with Wedman crashing the net. Volcan’s shot came off Vancouver goalie David Tendeck, hit Wedman’s knee and went into the net. After a few minutes of video review, the referees signaled it was a good goal.
Samuel Huo put the T-Birds up 2-0 at 18:08 of the first with an unassisted goal. Zack Andrusiak forced a turnover along the left boards in the Vancouver zone. Huo got the loose puck, skated into the left circle and beat Tendeck with a wrist shot past the goalie’s left arm for his first goal of the season.
Noah Philp scored his ninth goal of the season at 4:46 of the second period to make it 3-0. Dillon Hamaliuk carried the puck down the left wing. Just before the goal line Hamaliuk put the puck on net from a sharp angle. Philp was crashing the net and tipped the puck past Tendeck. Simon Kubicek had the second assist.
Wedman extended the lead to 4-0 1:16 after Philp’s goal. Kukuca passed the puck from the left of the net to Volcan just outside the crease and to the right of the net. Tendeck slid to his left and made a right pad save on Volcan’s shot, and the puck rebounded to the top of the crease. Wedman skated in a slammed the puck past the goalie as he scrambled to try and make the save.
Trent Miner replaced Tendeck after the T-Birds’ fourth goal. Tendeck made eight saves on 12 shots.
Vancouver (10-3-2-0) got on the board at 4:36 of the third period on a goal from Milos Roman. Brayden Watts and Justin Sourdif had the assists.
Hughes and the T-Birds killed off a 58 second Vancouver five-on-three advantage with 6:45 left in the game. Then stopped the next 1:02 of Giants one-man advantage.
Hamaliuk scored a pretty goal with three minutes left in the game to make it a 5-1 lead. Volcan hit Hamaliuk with a pass at the Vancouver blue line at the left wall. Hamaliuk skated the puck towards the Vancouver goal and stickhandled through a Giants defenseman. Hamaliuk was then all alone against Miner, stickhandling to his right he put the puck through the goalie’s legs for his seventh goal of the season.
Vancouver outshot Seattle 17-6 in the third period and 42-24 in the game.
Miner had 11 saves on 12 shots.
Up next
The T-Birds return to the ice Tuesday at the Spokane Chiefs for a 7:05 p.m. game. They travel to Prince George for back-to-back games Friday and Saturday before returning home Nov. 9 to face the Kelowna Rockets at 7:35 p.m.
Single-game tickets are on sale online and at the ShoWare box office.
Fans who purchase a 24-flex ticket package will be able to select any available premium seat for any game, in any ticket combination, during the 2018-19 season.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Wedman 4 (Volcan, Kukuca), 8:08. 2, Seattle, Huo 1, 18:08. Penalties – Hamaliuk, Sea (charging), 8:35. Kannok-Leipert, Van (hooking), 15:15.
Second period – 3, Seattle, Philp 9 (Hamaliuk, Kubicek), 4:46. 4, Seattle, Wedman 5 (), 6:02. Penalties – Harsch, Sea (cross checking), 1:21. Bauer, Sea (cross checking), 8:27. Hughes, Sea (cross checking-served by Volcan), 9:31. Ettinger, Van (roughing), 13:04.
Third period – 5, Vancouver, Roman 6 (Watts, Sourdif), 4:36. 6, Seattle, Hamaliuk 7 (Williams), 17:00. Penalties – Valenti, Van (tripping), 6:13. McNelly, Sea (tripping), 9:51. Lee, Sea (holding), 12:12. McNelly, Sea (delay of game), 13:14.
Shots on goal – Seattle 9-9-6 24, Vancouver 8-17-17 42. Goalies – Seattle, Hughes 42 shots-41 saves (7-2-1-0); Vancouver, Tendeck 12-8 (7-3-1-0), Miner 12-11. Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Vancouver 0-7. A – 3,029. Referees – Fraser Lawrence, Nick Swaine. Linesmen – Nick Bilko, Josh Long.
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