Matt Berlin made 19 saves to help lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 5-0 shutout win over the Victoria Royals in a Western Hockey League game in front of 5,245 at the ShoWare Center on Saturday night.
Mathew Barzal had a goal and three assists in the game. Barzal now has 156 career assists and is tied with Tyler Metcalfe for fourth place in team history in career assists. Glen Goodall (290), Victor Gervais (237) and Lindsay Vallis (187) are Seattle’s career assist leaders.
Sami Moilanen and Ethan Bear each had a goal and two assists in the game.
Berlin made six saves in the first and second periods and seven saves in the third period. Berlin is 3-0-0-0 this season.
Seattle (13-9-1-1) took a 1-0 lead at 6:33 of the first period on a power-play goal by Bear. Barzal had the puck on the left board and passed it Bear inside the blue line at center. Bear took a wrist shot with traffic in front of Victoria goalie Griffen Outhouse. Bear’s shot found the top left corner of the net for his seventh goal of the season.
The T-Birds struck again at 12:31 of the first on Ryan Gropp’s fifth goal of the season. Barzal got a loose puck in the neutral zone and fed Gropp on the left wing. Gropp came into the Victoria zone with speed and beat Outhouse over the glove.
Jarret Tyszka made it a 3-0 game at 14:24 of first when he beat Outhouse with a slap shot from the left point. Moilanen moved the puck up the right boards to Barzal, who protected the puck and then fed Tyszka at the point. It was Tyszka’s second goal of the season.
The Royals replaced Outhouse with Dylan Myskiw after Tyszka’s goal. Outhouse had 10 saves on 13 shots.
Moilanen made it a 4-0 T-Birds lead at 16:34 of the first. Scott Eansor carried the puck out of the Seattle zone then found Moilanen on the right wing. Moilanen gained the Victoria zone and then cut across the high slot. Moilanen beat Myskiw with a wrist shot low on the glove side for his seventh goal of the season. Bear had the second assist.
Seattle outshot Victoria 17-6 in the first period.
The T-Birds started the second period on the power play. A minute into the period Eansor was cross checked and the T-Bird had a five-on-three power play. Barzal wasted no time taking advantage. Moilanen passed the puck from the left board to Bear at the left point. Bear crossed the puck to Barzal. Barzal skated into the slot and beat Myskiw over the glove for his first goal of the season.
The T-Birds had a 28-12 advantage in shots after two periods by outshooting the Royals 11-6 in the second period.
The T-Birds were on the penalty kill to end the game. They blocked several shots to preserve the shutout.
The T-Birds outshot the Royals 34-19 in the game.
Myskiw had 19 saves on 21 shots in two periods of action.
What’s next
The T-Birds travel to Kamloops to play the Blazers at 7 p.m. Wednesda. They return to the ShoWare Center for back-to-back games this weekend. They play the Kootenay Ice at 7:35 p.m. Friday at 7:35pm and the Medicine Hat Tigers at 7:05
p.m. Saturday.
Fans may purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets may be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Bear 7 (Barzal), 6:43 (pp). 2, Seattle, Gropp 5 (Barzal), 12:31. 3, Seattle, Tyszka 2 (Barzal, Moilanen), 14:24. 4, Seattle, Moilanen 7 (Eansor, Bear), 16:34. Penalties – Hannoun, Vic (tripping), 6:30. Gagnon, Vic (slashing), 19:17.
Second period – 5, Seattle, Barzal 1 (Bear, Moilanen), 1:09 (pp). Penalties – Reddekopp, Vic (cross checking), 1:02. Kolesar, Sea (tripping), 7:25. Wedman, Sea (roughing), 18:06.
Third period – No scoring. Penalties – Barzal, Sea (slashing), 1:27. Ottenbreit, Seas (holding opponents stick), 18:26.
Shots on goal – Seattle 17-11-6 34, Victoria 6-6-7 19. Goalies – Seattle, Berlin 19 shots-19 saves (3-0-0-0); Victoria, Outhouse 13-10 (14-9-1-0), Myskiw 21-19. Power plays – Seattle 2-3; Victoria 0-4. A – 5,245. Referees – Duncan Brow, Derek Zalaski. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Nathan Van Oosten.
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