The Seattle Thunderbirds and Kelowna Rockets went to overtime for the third consecutive game in their first-round playoff series Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center.
And for the third consecutive game, the T-Birds prevailed when Evan Wardley scored at 4:55 of the extra period to give the T-Birds a 3-2 win in front of a season-high 6,021 fans.
The T-Birds now hold a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven playoff series. The T-Birds go for the sweep in Game 4 at 7:05 p.m. today at the ShoWare Center.
Alexander Delnov took the puck along the right boards into the Kelowna zone and passed it to Shea Theodore at the right point. Theodore made a few nifty moves at the right point to evade a Rockets’ forward before sliding the puck across to Wardley inside the blue line at center ice. The defenseman let rip a wrist shot that beat Kelowna goalie Jordon Cooke to win the game for Seattle.
Rockets grab early lead
Kelowna got on the board first through Zach Franko’s power-play goal 3:06 into the first period to make it 1-0 Rockets. Tyson Baillie and Damon Severson had the assists.
Cody Fowlie then gave the Rockets a 2-0 lead at the 6:10 mark, with Tyrell Goulbourne assisting.
Seattle got a goal back to make it 2-1 15:25 into the first period. Connor Honey and Luke Lockhart pressured the Rockets defenseman in the Kelowna zone, and the puck squirted out in front to Roberts Lipsbergs. His wrist shot was stopped by Jordan Cooke, but he managed to backhand his own rebound into the corner of the net.
The first period ended with Kelowna leading in shots 16-9.
Jesse Forsberg tied the game 2-2 for the T-Birds with just :25 remaining in the second period. Taylor Green and Andrew Johnson played some nice keep away along the bottom of the left circle, and Johnson moved the puck to Jared Hauf who passed over to Forsberg along the blue line. Forsberg wound up and ripped a slap shot through traffic high past Cooke for his second of the post-season.
Shots in the second period were 9-3 in favor of the Thunderbirds.
Both teams failed to score in the third period, sending the game to overtime.
Shots in the third period were 11-8 Kelowna, with the total after three periods 30-26 in favor of the Rockets.
Shots in overtime were 5-4 Kelowna, and ended 35-30 in favor of the visitors.
Brandon Glover improved his post-season record to 3-0, and made 33 saves on 35 shots.
Jordan Cooke stopped 27 of 30 shots for Kelowna, and his record is now 0-3 in playoffs.
Tickets, promotions
The T-Birds have a ticket special for Game 4. Fans that purchase eight premium seats will receive two free tickets for total of 10 tickets to Game 4.
Order tickets at tickets.seattlethunderbirds.com.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Kelowna, Franko 1 (Baillie, Severson), 3:06 (pp). 2, Kelowna, Fowlie 1 (Goulbourne), 6:10. 3, Seattle, Lipsbergs 2 (Honey, Lockhart), 15:25. Penalties – Honey, Sea (hooking), 1:50. Sheen, Sea (roughing), 9:34. Stadel, Kel (roughing), 9:34. Baillie, Kel (slashing), 15:50. Severson, Kel (interference), 20:00.
Second period – 4, Seattle, Forsberg 2 (Hauf, Johnson), 19:35. Penalties – Honey, Sea (boarding), 1:10. Bowey, Kel (boarding), 4:58. Swenson, Sea (boarding), 7:05.
Third period – No scoring. Penalties – Martin, Kel (tripping), 10:19. Kambeitz, Sea (hooking), 16:07. Heffley, Kel (boarding), 18:37.
Overtime – Seattle, Wardley 1 (Theodore, Delnov), 4:55. Penalties – Bench, Sea (too many men-served by Honey), :34.
Shots on goal – Seattle 9-9-8-4 30, Kelowna 16-3-11-5 35. Goalies – Seattle, Glover 35 shots-33 saves (3-0); Kelowna, Cooke 30-27 (0-3). Power plays – Seattle 0-5; Kelowna 1-5. A – 6,021. Referees – Ian Croft, Adam Griffiths. Linesmen – Tim Digby, Adam Brastad.
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