The Kent-based Seattle Thunderbirds got goals from four players Sunday evening to defeat the Kootenay Ice 4-3 at Western Financial Place in Cranbrook, British Columbia.
The T-Birds have won three Western Hockey League games in a row. They defeated the Medicine Hat Tigers 5-4 in overtime on Friday and the Lethbridge Hurricanes 6-2 on Saturday.
Justin Hickman scored with just under five minutes left in the game to put the T-Birds in front. The T-Birds withstood a furious rally from the Ice in the last minute of the game after they pulled their goalie for an extra attacker. Seattle goalie Danny Mumaugh made several solid saves to preserve the win.
Mumaugh improved to 3-1-0-0 by stopping 39 of 42 shots.
This was the T-Birds fifth game of a six-game road trip. The T-Birds are 3-2-0-0 on the road trip. They finish out road trip on Friday at the Kelowna Rockets. They are back home at ShoWare Center on Saturday, Oct. 12, to take on the Tri-City Americans at 7:05 p.m.
Shea Theodore has six assists in the last two games. He had three assists against Kootenay and three assists against Lethbridge on Saturday. Theodore has three goals and eight assists in the last six games.
Seattle (6-2-0-0) went in front 1-0 at 6:52 of the first on Roberts Lipsbergs sixth goal of the season. Hickman carried the puck into the Kootenay zone on the right side. He put a shot on goal Kootenay goalie Wyatt Hoflin stopped but the puck rebounded into the crease. Michal Holub got a stick on the puck before Lipsbergs jammed it past Hoflin.
The T-Birds took a 2-0 lead at 15:32 of the first. Theodore sent the puck to Riley Sheen along the right boards. Sheen carried the puck to the top of the right circle and put a wrist shot on goal. Mitch Elliot was parked in front of Hoflin and tipped Sheen’s shot past the goalie for his second goal of the season.
Kootenay (3-3-1-0) came right back and scored off a scramble in front of Mumaugh. John Martin got the goal on assists from Ryan Chynoweth and Zach McPhee.
The Ice tied the game 2-2 54 seconds into the second period on Sam Reinhart’s fifth goal of the year. Jaedon Descheneau and Jagger Dirk had the assists.
The T-Birds struck just under three minutes later to take the lead back. Theodore led a four-on-two break into the Kootenay zone. Theodore gave the puck to Lipsbergs at the top of the slot. Lipsbergs moved it to his left to Mathew Barzal. Barzal snapped the puck over Hoflin’s left shoulder to give the T-Birds a 3-2 lead.
Descheneau scored a power-play goal at 9:16 of the second to tie the game 3-3. Reinhart and Zak Zborosky had the assists.
The third period was a back and forth affair as both teams had numerous scoring chances. The T-Birds took the lead for good at 15:02 of the third. Jerret Smith moved the puck from the left point to Theodore at the right point. Theodore took a shot that rebounded into the left circle. Hickman skated to the rebound with his back to the Kootenay net. He got to the puck, spun and put a wrist shot on goal with traffic in front of Hoflin. The shot snuck by Hoflin to give the T-Birds the go-ahead goal.
The T-Birds outshot the Ice 16-14 in the third period but Kootenay finished the game with a 42-38 advantage in shots.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Lipsbergs 6 (Holub, Hickman), 6:52. 2, Seattle, Elliot 2 (Sheen, Theodore), 15:32. 3, Kootenay, Martin 2 (Chynoweth, McPhee), 16:27. Penalties – Swenson, Sea (cross checking), 18:51. Martin, Ktn (roughing), 18:51.
Second period – 4, Kootenay, Reinhart 5 (Descheneau, Dirk), :54. 5, Seattle, Barzal 3 (Lipsbergs, Theodore), 3:42. 6, Kootenay, Descheneau 7 (Reinhart, Zborosky), 9:18 (pp). Penalties – Hubic, Ktn (tripping), 6:01. Filbrandt, Ktn (slashing), 6:01. Hauf, Sea (boarding), 8:20. Lipsbergs, Sea (charging), 9:36.
Third period – 7, Seattle, Hickman 3 (Theodore, Smith), 15:02. Penalties – Chynoweth, Ktn (holding opponents stick), 2:20. Hickman, Sea (roughing), 17:23. Steenbergen, Ktn (roughing), 17:23.
Shots on goal – Seattle 11-11-16 38, Kootenay 18-10-14 42. Goalies – Seattle, Mumaugh 42 shots-39 saves (3-1-0-0); Kootenay, Hoflin 38-34 (1-1-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Kootenay 1-2. A – 2,276. Referees – Jason Cramer, Clayton Hall. Linesmen – Reid Anderson, Tyler Hawthorne.
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