T-Birds Blank Blades
Published on January 20, 2016 under Western Hockey League (WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds News Release
KENT - The Seattle Thunderbirds shut out the Saskatoon Blades 4-0 Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center.
The T-Birds peppered Saskatoon goalie Evan Smith with 44 shots while limiting the Blades to just 17 shots.
Seattle goalie Landon Bow got the shutout, his second with the T-Birds and improved his record to 14-15-4-0. In seven games with the T-Birds since being acquired from the Swift Current Broncos Bow has a 5-1-0-0 record with two shutouts, a .945 save percentage and a 1.51 goals against average.
The T-Birds have a home-and-home series with the Portland Winterhawks this weekend. The T-Birds are in Portland on Friday for a 7pm game. The two teams are at ShoWare Center on Saturday for a 7:05pm game. The game on Saturday is the annual Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss Game presented by WARM 106.9 FM. Teddy Bears are tossed on the ice after the T-Birds first goal and collected by the WARM 106.9 FM Teddy Bear Patrol and given to fire and police departments and other charitable organizations who give them to children in times of emergency or stress.
Seattle (25-16-3-0) took a 1-0 lead at 16:56 of the first period on Donovan Neuls seventh goal of the season. Mathew Barzal had the puck behind the Blades net and centered it to Neuls coming down the slot. Neuls beat Saskatoon goalie Evan Smith low for the goal, which gave him a three-game goal streak. Jared Hauf had the second assist on the goal.
Seattle outshot Saskatoon 13-5 in the first period.
The T-Birds jumped out to a 4-0 lead with three goals in 3:04 early in the second period.
Keegan Kolesar snapped a wrist shot past Smith low on the stick side at 3:12 on the power play to make it a 2-0 lead. Barzal curled in the right circle and found Kolesar in the slot. It was Kolesar's 20th goal of the season.
Bryan Allbee beat Smith with a slap shot from inside the blue line at 4:49 to make it a 3-0 lead. Smith had traffic in front of him and did not see Allbee's shot. Nolan Volcan and Nick Holowko had the assists.
The T-Birds made it a 4-0 lead on a power-play goal by Barzal at 6:16 of the second. Ethan Bear passed the puck to Ryan Gropp at the top of the left circle. Gropp skated into the slot and took a hard wrist shot. The puck hit Smith but got through the goalie and lay behind him. Barzal was to the left of the net and spotted the puck. He raced to the crease and poked the puck across the line as Smith tried to turn and cover the puck.
Seattle led 30-9 in shots after two periods by outshooting Saskatoon 17-4 in the period.
Saskatoon falls to 17-26-4-0 on the season with the loss.
Smith's record is now 1-5-0-0 after he made 40 saves on 44 shots.
T-Birds single game tickets for the 2015-16 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 am to 5 pm Saturday game days at 10 am and Sunday game days at noon.
T-Birds season tickets are currently on sale. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.
Western Hockey League Stories from January 20, 2016
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- Gord Bamford to Play in WHL's 50th Season Pro Am Alumni Game at Scotiabank Hockey Day in Canada - Kamloops Blazers
- Game 45: January 20 vs. Victoria - Medicine Hat Tigers
- Fans' Choice Award Returns - Brandon Wheat Kings
- Oil Kings Back on Winning Track - Edmonton Oil Kings
- Blades Run out of Gas in Seattle - Saskatoon Blades
- Americans Cut Down Giants 5-1 - Tri-City Americans
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- T-Birds Blank Blades - Seattle Thunderbirds
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