T-Birds finish regular season with second most wins in franchise history | WHL

Published 10:13 am Monday, March 21, 2016

The Seattle Thunderbirds finished the regular season Sunday night with a 4-1 victory over the Portland Winterhawks at the Moda Center in Portland.

The win gives the T-Birds a 45-23-4-0 (wins, losses, overtime losses, shutout losses) record and the second most wins in a regular season in franchise history. The 1989-90 T-Birds finished with a 52-17-3 (wins, losses, ties) record. The 2002-03 T-Birds had a 44-22-3-3 (w-l-t-sol) record.

The U.S. Division Champion T-Birds enter the playoffs having secured a point in 14 consecutive games. They have also won 17 of their last 19 games.

The T-Birds open the playoffs at the ShoWare Center on Friday, March 25, at 7:35 p.m. against the Prince George Cougars. Game 2 of the best-of-seven, first-round series is Saturday, March 26, at 7:05 p.m. at ShoWare.

Portland (34-31-6-1) took a 1-0 lead at 17:03 of the first period. Dominic Turgeon put back a rebound of a Caleb Jones shot one second after a T-Birds power play ended.

The T-Birds tied the game 1-1 1:48 into the second period. Elijah Brown backhanded the puck from the left boards to Nolan Volcan in the left corner. Volcan centered the puck to Donovan Neuls in the slot. Neuls beat Portland goalie Michael Bullion low for his 14th goal of the season.

Brown’s assist was his first career point as a T-Bird. Brown was the T-Birds’ first-round selection, 15th overall, in the 2015 Bantam Draft.

Seattle took a 2-1 lead on an unassisted power-play goal from Mathew Barzal at 13:54 of the second.

Alexander True scored on a breakaway with 48 seconds left in the second to give the T-Birds a 3-1 lead.

Brown scored a power-play goal with 49 seconds left in game.

Season numbers

The T-Birds finished the season with a league-best 29-5-2-0 record at the ShoWare Center. This is the second-best home record in team history. The 1989-90 team had a 31-4-1 (w-l-t) record at home.

The T-Birds are the top penalty killing team in the WHL this season. They allowed 44 goals on 300 opponent opportunities for an 85.3 percent success rate.

The T-Birds finished the season with the third-best power play in the league. They scored 70 power-play goals this season on 295 opportunities for a 23.7 percent conversion percentage. The Lethbridge Hurricanes (28.9 percent) and Kelowna Rockets (24.5 percent) are the only two teams ahead of the T-Birds.

Barzal finished the season with 27 goals and 61 assists for 88 points, which puts him in a tie for 11th in the league in scoring. Barzal is tied with Brayden Point of the Moose Jaw Warriors who had 35 goals and 53 assists.

Ethan Bear finished the season fifth in the league in scoring by a defenseman. Bear had 19 goals and 46 assists for 65 points.

Seattle goalies Landon Bow and Logan Flodell combined for a league-best eight shutouts by a goalie tandem this season. Bow had five shutouts and Flodell had three shutouts for the T-Birds.

Bow had two shutouts with the Swift Current Broncos before he was acquired at the trade deadline. Bow led the league in shutouts with seven, one ahead of Everett’s Carter Hart.

Playoff tickets

Single-game playoff tickets are on sale on the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The box office is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday game days at noon.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Portland, Turgeon 35 (Jones), 17:03. Penalties – Osterman, Sea (boarding), 4:43. Schumacher, Sea (double minor-high sticking), 9:38. Clayton, Por (hooking), 15:02.

Second period – 2, Seattle, Neuls 14 (Volcan, Brown), 1:48. 3, Seattle, Barzal 27, 13:54 (pp). 4, Seattle, True 14 (Neuls), 19:12. Penalties – Schoenborn, Por (hooking), 8:05. Iverson, Por (high-sticking), 13:44. Ottenbreit, Sea (tripping), 15:04.

Third period – 5, Seattle, Brown 1 (Barzal, Bear), 19:11 (pp). Penalties – Barzal, Sea (tripping), 4:24. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 11:49. Schoenborn, Por (slashing), 16:09. De Jong, Por (slashing), 17:56. Wedman, Sea (roughing), 19:21. Clayton, Sea (roughing), 19:21. Ormsby, Sea (roughing), 20:00. Czaikowski, Por (roughing), 20:00.

Shots on goal – Seattle 8-9-8 25, Portland 12-12-10 34. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 34 shots-33 saves (22-14-3-0); Portland, Bullion 25-21 (2-4-0-1). Power plays – Seattle 2-5; Portland 0-6. A – 10,947. Referees – Chris Crich, Jeff Ingram. Linesmen – Nick Bilko, Nathan Van Oosten.