T-Birds Blast Kelowna 6-2 At Home
Published on March 27, 2008 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
Seattle, March 27, 2008 - The Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Kelowna Rockets 6-3 in front of 2,566 fans at KeyArena on Thursday night.
The win gives Seattle a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series with Kelowna.
The win was the first victory by a home team in the series. Kelowna took the first two games in Seattle and the T-Birds returned the favor in games 3 and 4 at Kelowna. The T-Birds can wrap-up the series with a win in Kelowna this Saturday night.
The Rockets scored the first goal of the night 22 second into the first period. Brady Leavold tallied the goal with Colin Long and Jamie Benn providing the assists.
Seattle tied the score 1-1 at 7:46 of the first.
The T-Birds had just finished an unsuccessful power-play when Jan Eberle caught the Kelowna defense off-guard and ripped a snapshot from the blue line that sailed over Westbrook's shoulder and into the net. Jeremy Schappert and Jeremy Boyer were credited with the helpers.
The T-Birds took the lead on a Bud Holloway goal at 9:03 in the first. Thomas Hickey skated down the left side, across the blue line and into the T-Bird attacking zone, where he centered the puck to Holloway in the slot. Holloway then beat Westblom with an off-balance wrist shot to give Seattle the 2-1 advantage. Greg Scott also chipped in with an assist.
David Richard put Seattle up 3-1 at 12:51 of the first. Richard collected a Prab Rai centering pass in the high slot and snapped a shot past Westblom that chased the Kelowna goalie from the game. Hickey notched his second assist of the night on the T-Bird goal.
Seattle (3-2) outshot Kelowna 13-7 in the first period.
Prab Rai notched a power-play goal at 13:51 of the second period to put the T-Birds up 4-1. Rai passed the puck to his line-mate Ian Mckenzie who attempted a shot from the left circle. Kelowna reserve goaltender Torrie Jung deflected the shot, but the puck veered directly to a crashing Rai who sent the puck past Jung as he slid across the crease to block the errant save. The goal was Rai's second of the 2008 Playoffs. Hickey's helper was his third assist of the night.
The T-Birds added some insurance with a marker at 19:59 of the second. Scott Jackson buried a quick shot into Jung's chest as time was expiring in the period. Jung was unable to gather the shot and Holloway tipped the loose puck between the Kelowna goalies legs to give Seattle a 5-1 lead.
Seattle outshot Kelowna (2-3) 10-9 in the second, and lead 23-16 in total shots after two periods.
Kelowna scored at 5:10 of the third period on a goal by Luke Schenn. Cody Almond and Kyle St. Denis registered the assists.
Seattle finished strong with a goal at 19:29 of the third. McKenzie broke free and skated through the slot where he finished with a shot past Jung as he slid head-first into the net. Boyer and Schappert helped out again on the assists.
Kelowna outshot Seattle 11-5 in the third period, but Seattle finished the night with a 28-27 advantage in total shots.
Westblom's record dropped to 2-3 in the playoffs as he had 5 saves on 8 shots.
Torrie Jung replaced Westblom at 12:51 in the first period for Kelowna and stopped 13 of 16 shots.
Seattle goalie Riku Helenius stopped 25 of 27 shots in the game and improved his record to 2-2.
Game 6 returns to Kelowna on Saturday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m.
Game 6 returns to Kelowna on Saturday, March 29th at 7:00 p.m. First Round Schedule Game 1 - Kelowna 3, at Seattle 2 Game 2 - Kelowna 3, at Seattle 1 Game 3 - Seattle 3, at Kelowna 2, OT Game 4 - Seattle 6, at Kelowna 4 Game 5 - Kelowna 2, at Seattle 6 Game 6 - Saturday, March 29 at Kelowna at Prospera Place at 7 p.m. Game 7 - Tuesday, April 1 vs. Kelowna at KeyArena at 7:05 p.m.* *If necessary
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