Royals take down T-Birds, 6-2

The Victoria Royals took down the Seattle Thunderbirds 6-2 Tuesday evening at the ShoWare Center.

The T-Birds next play the Spokane Chiefs at 7:05 p.m. Friday in Spokane.

The Royals (17-13-0-1) skated out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period. Alex Gogolev opened the scoring at 6:45 of the first period when he tapped in from close range. Ben Walker and Jesse Zgraggen had the assists.

Victoria’s second goal came less than two minutes later, at 8:05, from Austin Carroll. He was played in on a 3-on-2 from Ben Walker and Steven Hodges and his shot beat T-Birds goalie Brandon Glover.

Seattle (16-15-1-0) got a goal back late in the period on a power-play goal by Roberts Lipsbergs, his 16th of the year. Brendan Rouse moved the puck to Justin Hickman who let a hard shot rip from the top of the circles. Lipsbergs skated in to grab the rebound, then faked to his forehand and shot past Patrik Polivka’s outstretched pads to cut the lead to 2-1 Victoria. The goal came at 18:40 of the first period.

The first period ended with Victoria leading 13-9 in shots.

The Royals scored two more goals in the second period to take a 4-1 lead. The first came from Brett Cote during a 4-on-4 spell. Cote one-timed a nice pass from Gogolev into the net at 9:19.

Victoria’s fourth came on scrappy goal in front of the Seattle net from Jamie Crooks on a 4-on-3 power play for the Royals. Brandon Magee and Logan Nelson had the assists on the goal coming at 17:20.

Shots for the second period were 17-8 Victoria, with the two-period total 30-17 in favor of the Royals.

Seattle got a goal back in the third to cut the lead to 4-2 on a goal by Connor Sanvido. Jerret Smith got the puck from Rouse and let a shot go on net. Sanvido grabbed the rebound and skated around the net to put the puck in on a wraparound goal. It was his ninth of the season coming at 10:48 of the third.

Two more goals from Victoria saw them finish out the game. The first was Gogolev’s second of the night, coming on a Royals power play. Carroll and Walker had the assists on the goal at 13:57.

Another Royals power-play goal took the final tally to 6-2. Logan Fisher scored with the assists going to Walker and Mitch Deacon.

Shots in the third period were 14-13 Seattle, and 43-31 overall in favor of Victoria.

Brandon Glover stopped 37 of 43 shots for the Thunderbirds and now has an overall record of 15-12-1-0. Patrik Polivka stopped 29 of 31 shots for the Royals and improved his record to 14-7-0-1.

T-Birds single game tickets for the season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.

T-Birds season tickets are on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Victoria, Gogolev 12 (Walker, Zgraggen), 6:45. 2, Victoria, Carroll 6 (Crooks, Hodges), 8:05. 3, Seattle, Lipsbergs 16 (Hickman, Rouse), 18:40 (pp). Penalties – Hickman, Sea (roughing), 1:49. Crunk, Vic (unsportsmanlike conduct), 1:49. Walker, Vic (checking from behind), 3:52. Zgraggen, Vic (tripping), 17:07. Magee, Vic (roughing), 19:58. Zgraggen, Vic (roughing), 19:57. Rouse, Sea (roughing), 19:57. Hauf, Sea (roughing), 19:57. Lipsbergs, Sea (roughing), 19:57. Wardley, Sea (misconduct), 19:57.

Second period – 4, Victoria, Cote 5 (Gogolev), 9:19. 5, Victoria, Crooks 15 (Magee, Nelson), 17:20 (pp). Penalties – Lockhart, Sea (tripping), :55. Walker, Vic (roughing), 8:31. Wolf, Sea (roughing), 8:31. Hodges, Vic (elbowing), 10:07. Nelson, Vic (slashing), 13:19. Gogolev, Vic (tripping), 15:26. Sheen, Sea (hooking), 15:58. Sanvido, Sea (goaltender interference), 16:09. Elliot, Sea (roughing, boarding), 20:00. Stahl, Vic (roughing), 20:00.

Third period – 6, Seattle, Sanvido 9 (Smith, Rouse), 10:48. 7, Victoria, Gogolev 13 (Carroll, Walker), 13:57 (pp). 8, Victoria, Fisher 2 (Walker, Deacon), 18:38 (pp). Penalties – Crunk, Vic (roughing), 2:35. Wardley, Sea (roughing), 2:35. Traber, Vic (fighting), 6:42. Wolf, Sea (fighting), 6:42. Hicketts, Vic (roughing), 7:50. Zgraggen, Vic (fighting), 10:42. Wray, Sea (fighting), 10:42. Bench Minor, Sea (too many men), 13:37. Carroll, Vic (fighting), 13:57. Forsberg, Sea (fighting), 13:57. Sheen, Sea (high sticking), 17:36. Magee, Vic (roughing), 19:04. Kanzig, Vic (roughing), 19:04. Crunk, Vic (fighting), 19:04. Elliot, Sea (roughing), 19:04. Wray, Sea (fighting), 19:04. Delnov, Sea (misconduct), 19:04.

Shots on goal – Seattle 9-8-14 31, Victoria 13-17-13 43. Goalies – Seattle, Glover 43 shots-37 saves (15-12-1-0); Victoria, Polivka 31-29 (14-7-0-1). Power plays – Seattle 1-6; Victoria 3-7. A – 3,108. Referee – Mike Campbell, Jason Nissen. Linesmen – Nathan Van Oosten, Adam Brastad.