T-Birds ice Everett: Head into weekend having won three of last four

Things are finally coming together for the Seattle Thunderbirds.

Behind a blistering shot on goal by Burke Gallimore, the Thunderbirds outlasted longtime rival Everett 3-2 in overtime on March 5 to secure the victory in front of 4,609 fans at the ShoWare Center.

With Everett playing a conservative penalty kill late in the overtime period, Gallimore found the back of the net with just 15.6 seconds remaining in the extra frame. Brenden Dillon and Marcel Noebels assisted on the goal, which was Gallimore’s 31st of the year.

In addition to the big goal, Gallimore’s performance helped propel the Thunderbirds to their third win in their last four games.

The T-Birds jumped to an early 1-0 lead from a Brenden Dillon wrist shot through traffic 40 seconds into the first period. After a frantic offensive push around Everett’s net, Dillon received the puck between the left faceoff circle and blue line and sent the 4,609 in the ShoWare Center to their feet. Ryan Button and Travis Toomey assisted on the goal.

The Silvertips answered quickly, with Parker Stanfield scoring at 2:56 of the first, assisted by Manraj Hayer and Chad Suer.

Toomey ensured the T-Birds would hold serve, batting a waist-high rebound from a Brendan Rouse shot into the back of the net at 9:10 of the first period. Ryan Button also assisted on the power-play goal.

The first period ended with the T-Birds holding a 2-1 lead. Everett outshot Seattle 13-11 during the first 20 minutes.

At 5:30 of the second period, Landon Ferraro evened the score 2-2. Ferraro was assisted by Tyler Maxwell on the play.

The second period ended with the teams knotted at 2-2. Seattle outshot Everett 13-9 during the second frame

Regulation ended with the teams still tied 2-2. Seattle outshot Everett 13-9 for the third period and 39-29 in regulation.

In the overtime period, Seattle outshot Everett 6-4 and 45-33 for the game.

Seattle goalie Calvin Pickard (25-30-3-5) made 31 saves on 33 shots to earn his 25th victory of the season.

Everett’s Siemens (6-7-2-0) made 42 saves on 45 shots.

The win helped ease the pain from a 9-1 loss Seattle suffered to Portland the day before. In that game, the Thunderbirds were unable to get on track offensively.

Portland delivered a sign of what was to come in the first period, outscoring Seattle 3-0 in the frame. Brad Ross netted Portland’s first two goals while Craig Cunningham tallied the third. Ross, however, was not done. The Portland standout added his third goal of the game with 5:28 remaining in the third quarter. It was Ross’ 27th goal of the season.

Ross’ third goal of the game gave Portland a 6-0 lead with less than a period to play.

Seattle’s Luke Lockhart helped the T-Birds avoid the shutout, collecting his 20th goal of the season at the 10:13 mark of the third period. Marcel Noebels and Dave Sutter assisted on the play.

Seattle was outshot 22-6 in the first period, 20-9 in the second period and 16-5 in the third period. Seattle goalkeeper Calvin Pickard saved 37 of 42 shot attempts. Michael Salmon relieved Pickard in the final period and proceeded to save 12 shots in 16 attempts.

Portland goalkeeper Keith Hamilton was nearly flawless in picking up the win, grabbing 19 saves on 20 shot attempts.

SEATTLE 3, EVERETT 2

First period: 1, Seattle, Dillon 7 (Button, Toomey), :40. 2, Everett, Stanfield 12 (Hayer, McCrea), 2:56. 3, Seattle, Toomey 21 (Rouse, Button), 9:10, (pp).

Second period: 4, Everett, Ferraro 10 (Maxwell), 5:30.

Third period: No scoring.

Overtime: 5, Seattle, Gallimore 31 (Dillon, Noebels), 4:44, (pp).

Shots on goal: Seattle 13-13-13-6-45. Everett 11-9-9-4 33. Goalies: Seattle, Pickard 33 shots-31 saves (25-30-3-5); Everett, Siemens 45-42 (6-7-2-0). Power plays: Seattle 1-6; Everett 0-4. A: 4,609