By Mike Caccioppoli

(31-16-4-3) Spokane Chiefs 5, (19-33-1-1) Seattle Thunderbirds 4

 

SPOKANE- The good news is that the Birds power play has suddenly come to life, the bad news is their defensive zone play continues to fall short and therefore a four goal night wasn't enough as Seattle loses for the second time in five days to the Chiefs.

A pair of power play goals and a shorthanded goal gave the Birds a chance to win but their five on five play was lackluster as they were outscored 5-1 in that category.

 

The Chiefs went up 1-0 at 14:59 of the first period.Dylan Walchuk scored his 6th goal of the season.

The Birds had some chances on back to back power play opportunities and while they had some good pressure they couldn't put one past Mac Engel.

Seattle was down 1-0 after 20 minutes and were being outshot 8-6.

Colin Jacobs (7) tied the game on the power play at 4:17 of the second period. The Birds had a five on three advantage and Shea Theodore took a feed from Calvin Pickard and made a great pass to Jacobs who shot it past Engel. Theodore and Pickard got the assists.

Another great pass from Theodore got the Birds up 2-1 as Burke Gallimore (19) scored their second power play goal of the game at 5:03. Theodore and Jacobs got the assists.

That 2-1 lead quickly turned into a 3-2 deficit as some sloppy play in their own end cost Seattle. First it was Mike Aviani (11) scoring at 9:08 then Collin Valcourt scored his 13th goal of the season at 11:17 when the puck wasn't cleared out of the zone.

Brendan Rouse (4) scored an unassisted shorthanded goal to tie the game 3-3 at 16:54.

A great special teams period for the Birds but not in the five on five category. The game was tied 3-3 after two periods with Spokane outshooting Seattle 24-11 including 16-5 in the period.

Branden Troock gave the Birds a 4-3 lead at 4:40 of the third period. It was his 10th of the season. Brad Deagle got the assists.

That lead lasted all of 1:07 as Marek Kalus (15) tied the game 4-4. Then Spokane took a 5-4 lead when Cole Wedman scored his 2nd goal of the season at 6:22.

Seattle pulled Pickard with just over a minute to play and had some chances to tie the game but failed to bury the puck and they lose 5-4.

 

 

Plus side:

Special teams. For the second straight game the Birds special teams were good. They were 2 for 5 on the power play and a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill (including a shorthanded goal).

4 goals. The offense due in large part to the power play was able to do some damage.

 

Minus side:

Failure along the boards. Losing too many battles along the boards in their own zone which led to pucks ending up in the back of their net. The Birds fail to put together back to back solid defensive efforts.

Giving back the lead. While it was a back and forth game, the Birds gave back two leads by allowing very fast back to back goals by the Chiefs. The worst being the 4-3 lead they had in the third period only to give up a pair of goals in less than a minute which would end up costing them the game.

5 on 5 play. There is a reason why the Chiefs have so many plus rating players while the Birds have mostly minus players. Spokane scored five even strength goals while Seattle only scored one.

Not enough shots. Yes the Birds scored four goals but they only managed 20 shots. Mac Engel did not have a good game and if the Birds had managed more shots the result may have been different.

Another one goal loss. As has been the case in the second half of the season Seattle loses another close game. With only 18 games left there are no moral victories.

No points. The Birds need to learn how to get at least a point out of these games. If you look at the other teams fighting with them for a playoff spot those loser points could end up being the difference in the end.

 

Game Notes:

-F Connor Sanvido, D Evan Wardley and D Jared Hauf were healthy scratches.

-Seattle drops to 9-18-1 on the road. They are 1-4 against Spokane (0-2 home, 1-2 road).

-Calvin Pickard falls to 19-28-1-1. Mac Engel improves to 23-14-1-2.

 

 

Thunderbirds second half record: 6-16-1.

 

710Sports.com three stars:

First star: Davis Vandane (three assists..+3 rating)

Second star: Colin Jacobs (goal, assist)

Third star: Collin Valcourt (goal, assist..+3 rating)

 

The Thuunderbirds play Saturday night at the ShoWare Center against the Portland Winterhawks. Game time is 7:05 pm and the action can be heard live at 710Sports.com.

 

Game Summary is on the WHL website.

 

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mike.caccioppoli@yahoo.com