By Mike Caccioppoli

(30-16-4-3) Spokane Chiefs 7, (18-32-1-1)Seattle Thunderbirds 3

SPOKANE- A three game road trip started poorly for the Birds as bad special teams play and too many turnovers allowed the Chiefs to score seven goals and extend Seattle's latest losing streak to six games.

The Birds got on the board first only to see the Chiefs tie the game just 12 seconds later. Brendan Rouse (3) scored at 5:04 with assists from Connor Honey and Branden Troock. Blake Gal (11) scored unassisted at 5:16 after Brad Deagle turned the puck over.

Davis Vandane (2) gave the Chiefs a 2-1 lead at 14:19 with Connor Honey (4) answering that goal at 15:48 to knot the game at 2-2. It was unassisted.

Brenden Kichton (13) put the Chiefs up 3-2 when he scored on the power play with just 23 seconds left in the period. The goal came with Spokane having only a nine second power play after four on four action.

Seattle outshot the Chiefs 16-14 but were down 3-2 after 20 minutes.

Seattle had a couple of power play chances in the second period and couldn't get anything going because of some lazy passing.

The Birds continued to trail 3-2 after 40 minutes. Spokane led 22-20 in shots.

Marek Kalus (14) scored on the power play at 1:44 of the third period to give the Chiefs a 4-2 lead.

Justin Hickman (10) got the Birds to within a goal at 4-3 at 8:17. Brad Deagle and Dillon Wagner got the assists.

Spokane gets their two goal lead back at 10:01. Darren Kramer scored his 19th goal of the season.

A shorthanded goal for the Chiefs gave them a 6-3 lead at 13:02.Connor Chartier scored his 4th goal of the season.

Mike Aviani (10) made it a 7-3 Chiefs lead at 16:37.

Seattle loses 7-3 and has now dropped 16 of their last 18 games.

Plus side:

More Honey. Connor continues his hot streak with a goal and assist.

Minus side:

Special teams. It was the difference in the game as Seattle went 0 for 6 on the power play (allowed a shorthanded goal as well) while Spokane was 2 for 4. This has been a theme most of the season for the Birds.

Lazy passes. Lazy passing is hurting the Birds in both their own zone which leads to turnovers and on the power play which has caused turnovers in the neutral zone and the inability to gain the zone.

Defensive zone play. From the crease on out the Birds had all kinds of trouble. The majority of the Chiefs goals were a result of sloppy play inside their blue line.

Can't put it all together. Seattle just can't put together a full 60 minutes of solid strong hockey. Whether it be special teams or missed scoring chances or bad turnovers, it's all going wrong for the Birds right now.

Right direction? After back to back solid efforts the Birds regress and make those mistakes that have been killing them all season long.

Gallimore. Burke is now taking lots of penalties and not scoring. His inconsistent play this season is really starting to show now. He even got a dirty look from Konowalchuk during the game. Why not sit him and play Elliot or Doty? CORRECTION: Well not so much a correction as a better description. I said that Konowalchuk gave Gallimore a "dirty" look. That is how I interpreted it.. this is what happened....On the power play Gallimore was behind the Spokane goal and backhanded a pass back to the point...but no one was at the point so the puck ended up all the way down at the other end of the ice. As the puck went by the Birds bench Steve looked back in the direction of Gallimore as to say "What were you doing there?" This is how it was described. You can make up your own mind as to whether it was a "dirty" look or not.

More bad numbers. Seattle has now lost six straight games and 16 of 18 overall. They have only won five games (11 points) since the break.

Game Notes:

- F Jacob Doty, F Mitch Elliot and D Evan Wardley were healthy scratches.

- Seattle drops to 8-17-1 on the road. They are 1-3 against Spokane (0-2 home, 1-1 road).

- Calvin Pickard falls to 18-27-1-1 .Eric Williams improves to 14-17-3-2.

Thunderbirds second half record: 5-15-1

710Sports.com three stars:

First star: Mike Aviani (goal, two assists, +1 rating)

Second star: Darren Kramer (goal, assist, + 1 rating)

Third star: Connor Honey (goal, assist, +2 rating)

Thunderbirds play Wednesday night in Kelowna against the Rockets. Game time is 7:05 pm and the action can be heard live at 710Sports.com.

Game Summary is on the WHL website.

twitter @mike710espn

mike.caccioppoli@yahoo.com

share this:

Tweet