The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Portland Winterhawks 4-1 Saturday evening in their home opener at the ShoWare Center in Kent.
Seattle (1-1-0-0) outshot Portland 15-10 during a scoreless first period.
The T-Birds opened the scoring at 4:22 of the second period on Burke Gallimore’s second goal of the season. Erik Bonsor made a long pass from deep in the T-Bird zone to Travis Toomey who was cutting across center ice. Toomey carried the puck into the Portland zone where he made a quick drop pass to Gallimore in the slot. Gallimore fired a wrist shot over Portland goalie Keith Hamilton’s glove to give the T-Birds a 1-0 lead.
Portland (0-1-0-0) tied the game shortly after at 6:50 of the second period on Ty Rattie’s first goal of the season. Sven Bartschi and Tyler Wotherspoon were credited with assists.
Seattle retook the lead at 15:49 of the second period on Luke Lockhart’s second goal of the season. Marcel Noebels raced for a puck that had been dumped behind the Portland net. His stick was knocked loose by a Portland defender, but he still managed to gain control of the puck and kick it into the slot, where Lockhart was racing fast towards the net. Lockhart beat Hamilton over his blocker to give Seattle the 2-1 advantage.
Portland outshot Seattle 14-13 during the second period, but Seattle still held the overall advantage 28-24.
Seattle extended their lead to 3-1 at 10:20 of the third period on a power-play goal by Gallimore, his second goal of the game. Gallimore gained control of the puck in the right corner of the Portland zone. He fed Brendan Rouse, who was waiting just beneath the goal line. Rouse handled the puck for a short time and fed it back to Gallimore, who had skated through the circle and one-timed Rouse’s pass just inside of the left post. Dave Sutter was credited with the second assist.
Colin Jacobs further extended the T-Birds’ lead to 4-1 at 14:57 of the third period on his first goal of the season. Sutter put a slapshot on net that was deflected by left wing Mitch Elliot. Hamilton made the initial save, but was caught on his back with the rebound lying to his left side. Jacobs skated in from the left circle and was able to poke the puck in without any opposition from the Portland defense.
Seattle goalie Calvin Pickard (1-1-0-0) stopped 37 of the 38 shots he faced to record his first victory of the season.
Portland goalie Keith Hamilton (0-1-0-0) stopped 38 of the 42 shots he faced in the loss.
The T-Birds travel to Tri-City tomorrow to face the Americans at the Toyota Center in Kennewick at 5:05 p.m. They will return to the ShoWare Center Friday, October 1 against Lethbridge in a cross-conference game at 7:35 p.m.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2010-11 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 Group tickets are currently on sale. Group tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – No scoring. Penalties – Aronson, Por (hooking), 8:06. Doty, Sea (major-fighting), 15:11. Peters, Por (major-fighting), 15:11.
Second period – 1, Seattle, Gallimore 2 (Toomey, Bonsor), 4:22. 2, Portland, Rattie 1 (Bartschi, Wotherspoon), 6:50. 3, Seattle, Lockhart 2 (Noebels), 15:49. Penalties – Sanvido, Sea (slashing), 7:22. Toomey, Sea (interference), 16:07.
Third period – 4, Seattle, Gallimore 3 (Rouse, Sutter), 10:20 (pp). 5, Seattle, Jacobs 1 (Elliot, Sutter), 14:57. Penalties – Swenson, Por (double minor-roughing), 8:43. Jacobs, Sea (roughing), 8:43. Bonsor, Sea (holding), 15:30. Dillon, Sea (tripping), 16:40. Dillon, Sea (major-fighting), 19:54. Darragh, Por (major-fighting), 19:54.
Shots on goal – Seattle 15-13-14 42. Portland 10-14-14 38. Goalies – Seattle, Pickard 38 shots-37 saves (1-1-0-0); Portland, Hamilton 42-38 (0-1-0-0). Power plays – Seattle 1-2; Portland 0-4. A – 5,052. Referee – Matt Kirk, Pat Smith. Linesmen – Ron Dietterle, Bevan Mills.
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