The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Prince George Cougars 3-2 Friday night in the first of back-to-back Western Hockey Leagues games between the teams at CN Centre in Prince George, British Columbia.
The T-Birds and Cougars return to the ice at 7 p.m. Saturday
The T-Birds were up by one goal with 1:45 left in the game when Prince George pulled goalie Ty Edmonds for an extra attacker. The T-Birds cleared the puck several times and goalie Rylan Toth made several good saves through traffic to secure the victory.
Prince George (21-8-2-0) opened the scoring at 3:07 of the first period on Jesse Gabrielle’s shorthanded goal.
Seattle (16-10-2-1) tied the game 1-1 at 10:23 of the first. Scott Eansor passed the puck from the right circle to Jarret Tyszka at the right point. Tyszka took a shot that rebounded off Edmonds directly to Sami Moilanen to the left of the net. Moilanen slammed the rebound past a diving Edmonds for his eighth goal of the season.
The Cougars took a 2-1 lead at 11:29 of the first on a goal from Yan Khomenko.
The T-Birds tied the game 2-2 at 2:22 of the second period on Keegan Kolesar’s second goal the game. Brandon Schuldhaus passed the puck up ice from the Seattle zone to Alexander True in the neutral zone. True tipped the puck to Kolesar carried it into the Prince George zone. Kolesar beat Edmonds over the glove with a wrist shot from the right circle.
Donovan Neuls scored the game-winning goal 1:33 into the second period. Edmonds came out of his net to play a puck behind his net. Kolesar pressured the goalie and forced a turnover. Kolesar threw the puck to the front of the Prince George net. True took a shot from the left circle that Edmonds stopped but the puck lay in the crease. Neuls fought through a Prince George defenseman and slammed the loose puck into the net for his eighth goal of the season.
Seattle outshot Prince George 10-5 in the third period and 30-27 in the game.
Toth made 25 saves on 27 shots and his record is now 12-10-1-0.
Edmonds made 27 saves on 30 shots and his record is now 17-5-1-0.
On deck
The T-Birds next home game is Tuesday at 7:05 p.m. against the Spokane Chiefs.
Fans may purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets may be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
SCORING SUMMARY
First period – 1, Prince George, Gabrielle 19 (Ruopp), 3:07 (sh). 2, Seattle, Moilanen 8 (Tyszka, Eansor), 10:23. 3, Prince George, Khomenko 9 (Boyd, Morrison), 11:29. Penalties – Anderson, PG (roughing), 1:47. Bench, Sea (too many men-served by Wedman), 5:00. True, Sea (roughing), 20:00. McDonald, PG (roughing), 20:00.
Second period – 4, Seattle, Kolesar 2 (Neuls, Schuldhaus), 2:22. Penalties – O’Brien, PG (hooking), 2:53. Olson, PG (holding), 7:28. O’Rourke, PG (roughing), 11:39. McDonald, PG (10-minute misconduct), 11:39. Volcan, Sea (goaltender interference), 15:38.
Third period – 5, Seattle, Neuls 8 (True, Kolesar), 1:33. Penalties – Bethune, PG (cross checking), 3:25. Kolesar, Sea (holding opponents stick), 10:43. True, Sea (hooking), 14:43.
Shots on goal – Seattle 11-9-10 30, Prince George 10-12-5 27. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 27 shots-25 saves (12-10-1-0); Prince George, Edmonds 30-27 (17-5-1-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-5; Prince George 0-4. A – 2,758. Referees – Mike Langin, Sean Raphael. Linesmen – Tom Henetiuk, Nathan Van Oosten.
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