T-Birds tame Cougars on ShoWare ice

The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Prince George Cougars 5-2 Wednesday night at ShoWare Center.

The T-Birds remain in sixth place in the Western Conference playoff standings, just one point behind the Kamloops Blazers. The Blazers defeated the Vancouver Giants 3-1 Tuesday night. The T-Birds have one game in hand on the Blazers, with three games remaining in the regular season.

The T-Birds face the Portland Winter Hawks on Friday at 7:35 p.m. at the ShoWare Center. They are then in Portland on Saturday night for a 7 p.m. game before the final game of the season on Sunday at 5:05 p.m. at ShoWare Center against the Everett Silvertips.

Single-game playoff tickets are now on sale. The T- Birds home games in the first round of the playoffs will be March 24, and March 25, against either the Kelowna Rockets or the Spokane Chiefs. Both games start at 7:05 p.m. Tickets can be purchased on the T-Birds website or at the ShoWare Center box office.

The T-Birds took a 1-0 lead at 18:48 of the first period on a power-play goal by Chris Cloud. Devon LeBlanc and David Richard had the assists.

Seattle outshot Prince George 13-8 in the first period.

Prince George (25-42-0-2) tied the game 1-1 at 1:44 of the second period on a goal by Greg Fraser. Parker Stanfield and Tyler Halliday had the assists.

Greg Scott put the T-Birds up 2-1 at 9:47 of the second. Jim O’Brien sent the puck to Jeremy Boyer in the left corner. Boyer centered the puck to Scott on top of the crease and Scott redirected the puck through Prince George goalie Joe Caligiuri for his 31st goal of the year.

The T-Birds went up 3-1 with a shorthanded goal with one second left in the second period. O’Brien got to a loose puck in the left corner and sent the puck out to the high slot. Scott got to the puck along the right boards and threw a quick shot on goal that beat Caligiuri low.

The T-Birds outshot the Cougars 13-7 in the second period and led 26-15 in total shots after two periods.

The Cougars got their second goal at 5:42 when Stanfield scored. Halliday and Colin Scherger had assists on the goal.

The T-Birds got the two-goal lead back at 9:25 of the third. Sena Acolatse corralled a loose puck in the Seattle neutral zone. While turning up ice Acolatse centered the puck to Luke Lockhart in the Cougars neutral zone. Lockhart carried the puck into the Prince George zone on a two-on-one with Charles Wells on his left. Lockhart cross the puck to Wells who came in alone on Caligiuri. Wells faked right and then came back left and beat Caligiuri with a backhand shot.

O’Brien added an unassisted empty-net goal at 19:49 of the third to ice the game.

Prince George outshot Seattle 14-9 in the third period but the T-Birds finished with a 35-29 advantage in the game.

Seattle goalie Calvin Pickard stopped 27 of 29 shots and his record improves to 22-15-1-4.

Caligiuri made 30 saves on 34 shots and his record is now 5-11-0-2.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Cloud 14 (LeBlanc, Richard,), 18:48 (pp). Penalties – LeBlanc, Sea (checking from behind), 11:50. Scherger, PG (hooking), 17:57. Cloud, Sea (roughing), 18:48. Cepek, PG (roughing), 18:48. O’Brien, Sea (hooking, 18:52.

Second period – 2, Prince George, Fraser 8 (Stanfield, Halliday), 1:44. 3, Seattle, Scott 31 (Boyer, O’Brien), 9:47. 4, Seattle, Scott 32 (O’Brien), 19:59 (sh).Penalties – Ciolfi, PG (tripping), 10:17. Watson, PG (interference), 14:42. Richard, Sea (tripping), 19:46.

Third period – 5, Prince George, Stanfield 18 (Halliday, Scherger), 5:42. 6, Seattle, Wells 4 (Lockhart, Acolatse), 9:25. 6, Seattle, O’Brien 25, 19:45 (en). Penalties – Scherger, PG (interference), 9:59. Pickard, Sea (delay of game-served by Lockhart), 13:44.

Shots on goal – Seattle 13-13-9 35. Prince George 8-7-14 29. Goalies – Seattle, Pickard 29 shots-27 saves (22-15-1-4); Prince George, Caligiuri 34-30 (5-11-0-2). Power plays – Seattle 1-4; Prince George 0-4. A – 2,639. Referee – Brett Iverson, Pat Smith. Linesmen – Mike Basford, Ron Dietterle.