Seattle Thunderbirds goalie Justin Myles made 40 saves Friday night at Prospera Place to lead the T-Birds to a 4-3 shootout win over the Kelowna Rockets.
Seatlle is off to a 7-2-0-0 start.
The game against the Rockets was the T-Birds’ sixth consecutive game on the road. They went 4-2-0-0 on the six-game road trip.
The T-Birds have now won four games in a row. They play the Tri-City Americans at 7:05 p.m. Saturday night at the ShoWare Center.
The T-Birds have gone to a shootout three times this season and have won all three. Myles has two of the shootout wins.
Myles made 13 saves in the first and second periods and 11 saves in the third period. Myles denied Damon Severson, Myles Bell and Tyson Baillie in the shootout to get the win and improve his record to 4-1-0-0.
Mathew Barzal was the T-Birds’ first shooter in the shootout and his shot hit the cross bar. Shea Theodore was the T-Birds’ second shooter. Theodore came down slowly on Kelowna goalie Jordan Cooke and beat the goalie with a quick backhand shot into the top right corner of the net. Myles stopped Baillie to get the T-Birds the win.
Kelowna (5-1-0-2) went in front 1-0 at 18:45 of the first period on a goal from Tyson Baillie. Riley Stadel took a shot from the right point that Baillie tipped past Myles. Myles Bell had the second assist.
Kelowna outshot Seattle 14-10 in the first period.
Seattle tied the game 1-1 at 3:20 of the second period. Erik Benoit cleared a puck off the T-Birds goal line and skated up the left wing. Benoit moved the puck to Keegan Kolesar in the neutral zone. Kolesar carried puck into the Kelowna zone on the left side. Kolesar backhanded the puck to Alexander Delnov coming down the slot. Delnov beat Cooke low for his seventh goal of the season.
The Rockets took a 2-1 lead at 9:52 of the second on a power-play goal from Damon Severson. Nick Merkley and Austin Glover had the assists.
Kelowna went in front 3-1 at 13:07 of the second. A right point shot from Madison Bowey deflected off a T-Birds defenseman and past Myles.
The Rockets led 29-18 in shots after two periods by outshooting the T-Birds 15-8 in the second period.
The T-Birds scored two goals in 47 seconds early in the third period to tie the game 3-3. Branden Troock and Erik Benoit combined to get the T-Birds second goal. Troock skated up the right wing on a two-on-one with Benoit. In the left circle Troock centered it to Benoit and he beat Cooke over the glove at 3:40.
Jared Hauf tied the game 3-3 at 4:27 of the third. Justin Hickman sent him the puck at the left point. Hauf put a wrist shot on goal that deflected off a Rockets defenseman and past Cooke to tie the game.
The Rockets outshot the T-Birds 11-10 in the third period and 40-28 in regulation.
The T-Birds outshot the Rockets 4-3 in overtime.
Cooke made 29 saves on 32 shots and his record is now 4-0-0-2.
Tickets
T-Birds’ single-game tickets are available online at the T-Birds website at 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 are on sale and can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Kelowna, Baillie 4 (Stadel, Bell), 18:45. Penalties – Elliot, Sea (roughing), 7:49. Lees, Kel (roughing), 9:22. Elliot, Sea (slashing, roughing), 11:59. Bells, Kel (roughing), 11:59. Hauf, Sea (hooking), 16:11. Troock, Sea (tripping), 19:30.
Second period – 2, Seattle, Delnov 7 (Kolesar, Benoit), 3:20. 3, Kelowna, Severson 3 (Merkley, Glover), 9:52 (pp). 4, Kelowna, Bowey 4 (Franko), 13:07. Penalties – Elliot, Sea (major-fighting), 4:16. Goulbourne, Kel (major-fighting), 4:16. Troock, Sea (roughing), 8:37. Schmidli, Kel (cross checking), 10:28. Goulbourne, Kel (10-minute misconduct), 10:48.
Third period – 5, Seattle, Benoit 1 (Troock), 3:40. 6, Seattle, Hauf 1 (Hickman), 4:27. Penalties – Eansor, Sea (high-sticking), 6:26. Benoit, Sea (hooking), 13:26.
Overtime – No scoring. Penalties – No penalties.
Shootout – Seattle 1 (Barzal NG, Theodore G). Kelowna 0 (Severson NG, Bell NG, Baillie NG).
Shots on goal – Seattle 10-8-10-4-1 33, Kelowna 14-15-11-3-0 43. Goalies – Seattle, Myles 43 shots-40 saves (4-1-0-0); Kelowna, Cooke 32-29 (4-0-0-2). Power plays – Seattle 0-2; Kelowna 1-7. A – 5,007. Referees – Mark Pearce, Mike Campbell. Linesmen – Mike Langin, Dustin Minty.
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