Thunderbirds Fall in Shootout

KENT, Wash. –Jared Davidson scored twice but the Seattle Thunderbirds fell, 3-2, in a shootout to the Kamloops Blazers Tuesday at the accesso ShoWare Center. The loss ended the Thunderbirds thirteen game winning streak. Seattle, now 48-9-1-2 on the season, did earn one point to slash their magic number for clinching the top seed in the Western Conference to nine points. The Thunderbirds continue their homestand with a pair of games this weekend. Friday at 7:05 p.m. they host the Tri-City Americans. Saturday the Everett Silvertips are the opponent. That game gets underway at 6:05 p.m.

Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette said, like any loss, the result was disappointing. “I thought we competed hard over the course of the game, just probably didn’t move the puck well enough. That was probably the biggest deficiency in our game tonight.”
Seattle trailed, 1-0, after the first period after a Conner Levis goal at 12:02 gave Kamloops the lead. The Blazers doubled their lead just 38-seconds into the second period when Logan Stankoven scored.

The Thunderbirds stormed back to tie it on a pair of Jared Davidson goals just under four minutes apart. The first came at the 8:08 mark on an assist from Reid Schaefer. The second followed at 12:20 with Kevin Korchinski and Sawyer Mynio getting the assists.
“We started to tap in to how we needed to play,” remarked O’Dette. “We started to get the momentum back and we needed more of that type of hockey over the course of the game.”
Seattle gave themselves a chance by shutting down the Blazers number one ranked power play including late in regulation and once in overtime. Kamloops was awarded five power plays in the game to Seattle’s one. “Our PK did a great job,” said O’Dette. “We know that’s a strength of their team and you want to limit the opportunities for sure, but our PK stepped up, especially late. “
In fact, Seattle thought they had won the game in overtime on a Nico Myatovic goal, only to have an official disallow it, calling a penalty on Seattle instead. After Seattle killed off that last Kamloops power play, the game went to the shootout where the Thunderbirds two shooters missed while the Blazers two both scored.

T-BIRDS EXTRAS

The Thunderbirds and Blazers will meet twice more before the end of the regular season. Seattle hosts the Blazers on March 21st. The rematch is March 22nd at the Sandman Centre in Kamloops.
With his two goals, Jared Davidson needs four more in the next eight games to reach 100 goals in his WHL career.
With his assist on Seattle’s first goal, Reid Schaefer stretched his point streak to seven games.
Despite the loss, Thomas Milic made 39 saves and lowered his goals against average to 2.05, second in the WHL behind teammate Scott Ratzlaff (2.00). Milic also raised his save percentage to a league best .928.

While the winning streak ended, the Thunderbirds have earned points in fourteen straight games.
Boxscore: WHL Network