The Seattle Thunderbirds got goals from Brad Deagle, Luke Lockhart and Connor Sanvido Tuesday night at CN Centre to beat the Prince George Cougars 3-1 in a Western Hockey League game with crucial playoff implications.
Seattle (22-41-1-1), in ninth place in the Western Conference playoff standings, got two points for the win and is now one point behind the eighth-place Everett Silvertips and two points behind the seventh-place Victoria Royals. Prince George (20-44-0-2) is in 10th, four points behind the T-Birds.
The top eight teams advance to the playoffs. Seattle and the Silvertips still play two more times against each other this season with both games at the ShoWare Center, on March 11 and March 17.
Seattle plays at Prince George again Wednesday.
Seattle outshot Prince George 12-7 in the first period.
Prince George (20-44-0-2) took a 1-0 lead at 3:27 of the second period on a strange goal. Austin Daae came around the net and tried to jam the puck in at the right post. Calvin Pickard went down to stop the puck and it looked like he had made the save. Daae celebrated like he had scored while the referee behind the net made a waving motion with his arms to indicate no goal was scored. The referees then went to video review and after a lengthy delay ruled that Daae had scored. Jake Mykitiuk had an assist on the goal.
Seattle came right back and tied the game 15 seconds after the Cougars’ opening goal. Brad Deagle took a slap shot from the left point that deflected off a defender and beat Prince George goalie Drew Owsley. Deagle’s third goal of the year was unassisted.
The T-Birds took a 2-1 lead on Luke Lockhart’s 13th goal of the year. Defenseman Evan Wardley was able to keep the puck in at the blue line and get it to Colin Jacobs in the right circle. Jacobs curled into the slot and then dished the puck to Lockhart in the left circle. Lockhart blasted the pass from Jacobs past Owsley and into the top right corner.
Seattle outshot Prince George 7-5 in the second period and led 19-12 in total shots after two periods.
The T-Birds took a 3-1 lead at 11:01 of the third period on Connor Sanvido’s seventh goal of the season. Dave Sutter got the puck to Sanvido in the neutral zone on the right side. Sanvido broke up ice with the puck on a two-on-one. In the right circle he put a wrist shot on goal that beat Owsley five-hole.
Seattle outshot Prince George 25-22 in the game.
Pickard stopped 21 of 22 shots and his record is now 22-33-1-1. Owsley made 22 saves on 25 shots and his record is now 19-36-0-1.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – No scoring. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (cross checking), 2:27.
Second period – 1, Prince George, Daae 2 (Mykitiuk), 3:27. 2, Seattle, Deagle 3, 3:42. 3, Seattle, Lockhart 13 (Jacobs, Wardley), 14:05. Penalties – Jacobs, Sea (tripping), 8:10. Bourke, PG (slashing), 18:41.
Third period – 4, Seattle, Sanvido 7 (Sutter), 11:01. Penalties – Bourke, PG (hooking), 1:17. Lund, Sea (boarding, major-fighting), 5:10. Daae, PG (instigator, major-fighting, 10-minute misconduct), 5:10. Theodore, Sea (slashing), 14:59.
Shots on goal – Seattle 12-7-4 25. Prince George 7-5-10 22. Goalies – Seattle, Pickard 22 shots-21 saves (22-33-1-1); Prince George, Owsley 25-22 (19-36-0-1). Power plays – Seattle 0-2; Prince George 0-3. A – 1,634. Referee – Trent Knorr, Derek Zalaski. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Ryan Gibbons.
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