Lindsay Nielsen scored two goals Friday night to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-1 victory over the Kamloops Blazers at ShoWare Center.
Seattle received a five-minute power play after Kamloops' leading scorer Tyler Shattock was served a major boarding penalty and a game misconduct for a hit on T-Bird defenseman Steve Chaffin at 12:11 of the first period.
The T-Birds (9-13-1-3) took advantage of the power play and scored the first goal of the night when Prab Rai threw the puck toward Blazers' goalie Jon Groenheyde. The puck squirted free and right to the stick of Lindsay Nielsen who was waiting near the left post. Nielsen knocked the puck home for his third goal of the season to give Seattle a 1-0 lead. Charles Wells had the second assist on the goal.
Moments later, Kamloops (10-13-1-2) evened the score at 1-1 with an unassisted short-handed goal by Shayne Wiebe at 15:55.
The T-Birds outshot the Blazers 16-5 in the first period period.
Nielsen scored his second goal of the night and fourth of the season at 15:17 of the second period to give the T-Birds a 2-1 lead. Erik Fleming and Rai each earned an assist on the play.
Seattle and Kamloops each had 10 shots on goal in the second period. The T-Birds held a 26-15 advantage through two periods of play.
The T-Birds scored the final goal of the night at 14:22 of the third period on a four-on-three power-play goal by Sena Acolatse. Jeremy Schappert slid a pass from the blue line to Acolatse at the left point and he wound up and fired a slap shot that beat Groenheyde glove side. The goal was Acolatse's ninth of the season. Jonathan Parker had the second assist on the goal.
Seattle outshot Kamloops 8-7 in the final period and 34-22 for the game.
Calvin Pickard earned the win to improve to 8-9-1-3 on the season by stopping 21 of 22 shots.
Groenheyde made 31 saves on 34 shots and his record fell to 3-5-1-1.
The T-Birds return to action tomorrow night as they host division rival Everett Silvertips for the fourth of 10 games between the teams this season. The T-Birds currently hold a 2-1 advantage through three games including a 4-0 win on November 14th.
For photos of this game go to Kent Valley Sports.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2009-10 season are available online at the T-Birds website and at the ShoWare Center box office. The ShoWare Center Box Office is open Monday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturday game days at 10 a.m. and Sunday game days at noon.
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