Newly acquired defenseman Adam Henry had a goal in his Seattle home debut to help the Thunderbirds to a 4-2 victory over the Tri-City Americans on Saturday night at the ShoWare Center.
Roberts Lipsbergs had two goals and Justin Hickman and Mathew Barzal each had two assists.
The T-Birds have now won five consecutive games and have an 8-2-0-0 record and the most points in the WHL. They travel to Kamloops to take on the Blazers at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
The T-Birds came out with some jump and kept the Americans pinned in their end of the ice for the first 10 minutes of the game. The Americans called their timeout 5:34 into the first period after they iced the puck.
The energy the T-Birds brought paid off when they took a 1-0 lead at 13:37 of the first period. Hickman centered the puck from the right boards to Barzal on top of the crease. The puck came right off Barzal’s stick to Lipsbergs to the right of the net. Tri-City goalie Eric Comrie went down on the centering pass and was out of position when Lipsbergs got the puck. Lipsbergs put the puck into an empty net for his seventh goal of the season.
The T-Birds made it 2-0 lead with three seconds left in the first just after a power play ended. Jerret Smith passed the puck from the right point to Henry at center ice. Henry took a slap shot with Keegan Kolesar screening Comrie. Henry’s shot beat Comrie over the blocker. Alexander Delnov had the second assist on the goal.
The T-Birds outshot the Americans 17-8 in the first period.
Shea Theodore put the T-Birds in front 3-0 at 14:51 of the second period with an unassisted goal. The Americans attempted to clear the puck from behind their net up the left boards. Theodore intercepted the clearing attempt, skated into the left circle, and with Lispbergs screening the goalie, snapped a wrist shot over Comrie’s glove, off the cross bar and into the net.
Seattle outshot Tri-City 12-8 in the second period and led 29-16 in total shots after two periods.
Tri-City (4-6-0-1) got on the board at 5:37 of the third period with a man advantage. Beau McCue scored while a delayed penalty was being called on the T-Birds.
The trio of Lipsbergs, Barzal and Hickman struck again at 11:36 of the third period to get Seattle’s fourth goal. Barzal had the puck along the left boards. He sent the puck to Hickman on the goal line to the right of Comrie. Hickman quickly centered to Lipsbergs and he beat Comrie with a quick wrist shot.
Connor Rankin scored at 16:54 of the third to get the Americans second goal. Lucas Nickles and Brian Williams had the assists.
Seattle outshot Tri-City 15-13 in the third period and 44-29 in the game.
Seattle goalie Danny Mumaugh stopped 27 of 29 shots to get the win and improve his record to 4-1-0-0.
Comrie made 40 saves on 44 shots and his record is now 4-5-0-1.
Next up: Kamloops
The T-Birds next game is 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Kamloops Blazer. They play back-to-back home games this weekend – against Prince George Cougars at 7:35 p.m. Friday, and against the Victoria Royals at 7:05 p.m.
Tickets are available online at the T-Birds website, tickets.seattlethunderbirds.com, 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.
Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Seattle, Lipsbergs 7 (Barzal, Hickman), 13:37. 2, Seattle, Henry 1 (Smith, Delnov), 19:57. Penalties – Eansor, Sea (holding), 7:30. Delnov, Sea (hooking), 13:56. Gutierrez, Tri (interference), 17:56.
Second period – 3, Seattle, Theodore 4, 14:51. Penalties – Tomchuk, Tri (hooking), 12:39.
Third period – 4, Tri-City, McCue 5 (Rankin, Tot), 5:37. 5, Seattle, Lipsbergs 8 (Hickman, Barzal), 11:36 (pp). 6, Tri-City, Rankin 5 (Nickles, Williams), 16:54. Penalties – Hauf, Sea (roughing), 8:47. Gutierrez, Tri (roughing), 8:47. Topping, Tri (tripping), 9:55.
Shots on goal – Seattle 17-11-15 43, Tri-City 8-8-13 29. Goalies – Seattle, Mumaugh 29 shots-27 saves (4-1-0-0); Tri-City, Comrie 43-39 (4-5-0-1). Power plays – Seattle 1-3; Tri-City 0-2. A – 3,568. Referees – Kevin Bennett, Nick Swaine. Linesmen – Mark Heier, Adam Brastad.
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