For the Reporter
The Victoria Royals defeated the Seattle Thunderbirds 3-2 in a shootout Monday night at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Arena in Victoria, British Columbia.
The T-Birds came back from a two-goal deficit in the second period to tie the game 2-2. They had several chances to get the lead in the third period but were not able to beat Victoria goalie Coleman Vollrath a third time.
Vollrath stopped Mathew Barzal, Shea Theodore and Donovan Neuls in the shootout.
Seattle goalie Logan Flodell started the game and played regulation and overtime, but was replaced by Taran Kozun for the shootout. Kozun stopped Jack Walker and Brandon Magee, but was not able to stop Greg Chase. Chase beat Kozun on the glove side with a wrist shot.
This was the first of back-to-back games against the Royals. The second game between the teams is 7:05 p.m. Tuesday in Victoria.
Victoria (34-25-3-1) went in front 1-0 at of the first period. Joe Hicketts scored on a wrist shot from the top of the right circle. Brandon Fushimi and Logan Fisher had the assists.
The Royals outshot the T-Birds 6-5 in the first period.
Victoria took a 2-0 lead at 2:59 of the second period. Jack Walker scored off assist from Regan Nagy and Tyler Soy.
Seattle (31-23-4-5) cut the Victoria lead to one goal at 5:16 of the second. Shea Theodore carried the puck out the Seattle zone. Theodore passed the puck to Ryan Gropp who brought the puck into the Victoria zone on the right side. Gropp stopped at the top of the right circle. Gropp centered the puck to Smith and he ripped a shot past Vollrath.
Keegan Kolesar tied the game 2-2 with his 19th goal of the season. Jared Hauf held the puck at the left point. He passed the puck to Kolesar along the left board. Kolesar took a wrist shot with Nick Holowko screening Vollrath. Kolesar’s shot hit the left post, bounced off Vollrath and into the net at 10:57 of the period.
Both teams had 18 shots on goal after two periods.
Flodell had 20 saves on 22 shots.
Vollrath ended up making 26 saves on 27 shots.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Hicketts 10 (Fushimi, Fisher), 8:53. Penalties – Neuls, Sea (high-sticking), 5:35. Carroll, Vic (tripping), 19:22.
Second period – 2, Victoria, Walker 17 (Nagy, Soy), 2:59. 3, Victoria, Smith 9 (Gropp, Theodore), 5:16. 4, Seattle, Kolesar 19 (Hauf, Neuls), 10:57. Penalties – Barzal, Sea (hooking), 6:46. Wardley, Sea (double minor-roughing), 8:05. Carroll, Vic (double minor-roughing), 8:05. Ibragimov, Vic (cross checking), 18:50. Barzal, Sea (slashing), 18:50. Reddekopp, Vic (delay of game), 19:51.
Third period – No scoring. Penalties – Magee, Vic (slashing), 8:46.
Overtime – No scoring. Penalties – No penalties.
Shootout – Seattle 0 (Barzal NG, Theodore NG, Neuls NG). Victoria 1 (Walker NG, Magee NG, Chase G).
Shots on goal – Seattle 6-12-8-1-0 27, Victoria 5-13-3-1-1 23. Goalies – Seattle, Flodell 22 shots-21 saves, Kozun (28-17-4-4); Victoria, Vollrath 27-26 (24-13-3-1). Power plays – Seattle 0-3; Victoria 0-2. A – 3,859. Referees – Adam Griffiths, Sean Raphael. Linesmen – Blake Copeland, Kirk Van Helvoirt.
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