T-Birds cage Silvertips, extend winning streak to 6 games | WHL

Barzal-Gropp-Kolesar line combines for 2 goals, 4 assists in 3-1 win over Everett

January 18, 2017 11:00 am
The Thunderbirds’ Keegan Kolesar tries to position himself for a shot in front of Silvertips goalie Carter Hart during WHL play Tuesday night at the ShoWare Center. COURTESY PHOTO, Brian Liesse/T-Birds

The line of Mathew Barzal, Keegan Kolesar and Ryan Gropp combined for two goals and four assists to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-1 Western Hockey League victory over the Everett Silvertips in front of 5,109 at the ShoWare Center on Tuesday night.

The T-Birds, riding a six-game winning, were scheduled to play the Spokane Chiefs on Wednesday night at Veterans Memorial Arena, but the game was postponed because of inclement weather.

Seattle goalie Rylan Toth made 23 saves to get his 20th win of the season. His record is 20-14-1-0.

Seattle (24-14-3-1) took a 1-0 lead at 12:42 of the first period on Barzal’s fourth goal of the season. Gropp passed the puck to Barzal in the left circle. Barzal stickhandled towards the blue line, turned, and headed back to the goal line. From a sharp angle, Barzal lifted a backhand shot over Everett goalie Carter Hart’s right shoulder. Aaron Hyman had the second assist.

Gropp increased his point streak to five games with the assist. Barzal has a three-game point streak with the goal.

Everett (28-6-7-1) tied the game 1-1 on a power-play goal from Matt Fonteyne at 15:59 of the first.

Barzal set up the T-Birds’ second goal at 12:28 of the second period. Barzal came out of the left corner and skated towards the Everett net. Barzal, a right hand shot, was moving left and put his stick between his legs and took a shot. Hart made the save as the puck rebounded into the top of the crease. Kolesar slammed the puck past Hart for his eighth goal of the season. Gropp had the second assist.

Kolesar increased his point streak to four games with the goal.

Kolesar was called for holding with 2:37 left in the game to give the Silvertips a power play. Toth made several saves before Hart stopped Gropp on a breakaway. Hart headed to the bench for an extra attacker after the save on Gropp. A Silvertips defenseman had the puck at the left point when Kolesar came out of the penalty box right behind him. Kolesar lifted the defenseman’s stick, stole the puck and passed it to Alexander True just inside the Seattle blue line. True took a long distance shot and hit the empty net with 31 seconds left in the game. The goal gave True a three-game goal streak.

Seattle finished with a 33-24 advantage in shots.

Hart finished the game with 30 saves on 32 shots and his record is now 18-4-5-0.

Rematch with ‘Tips

The T-Birds travel to Everett to play the Silvertips at 7:35 p.m. on Friday at Xfinity Arena. The Fred Meyer Teddy Bear Toss presented by WARM 106.9 FM is 7:05 p.m. Saturday against the Vancouver Giants on Kent ice.

Fans may purchase single game tickets online or at the ShoWare Center box office. Season tickets can be purchased by calling the T-Birds office at 253-239-7825.

SCORING SUMMARY

First period – 1, Seattle, Barzal 4 (Gropp, Hyman), 12:42. 2, Everett, Fonteyne 14 (Zwerger, Davis), 15:59 (pp). Penalties – True, Sea (holding), 7:10. Tuulola, Evt (tripping), 8:17. Ottenbreit, Sea (interference), 15:43. Ottenbreit, Sea (roughing), 18:40.

Second period – 3, Seattle, Kolesar 7 (Barzal, Gropp), 12:28. Penalties – Dewar, Evt (slashing), 4:24.

Third period – 4, Seattle, True 13 (Kolesar), 19:29 (en). Penalties – Kolesar, Sea (holding), 17:23.

Shots on goal – Seattle 12-13-8 33, Everett 4-10-10 24. Goalies – Seattle, Toth 24 shots-23 saves (20-14-1-0); Everett, Hart 32-30 (18-4-5-0). Power plays – Seattle 0-2; Everett 1-4. A – 5,019. Referees – Kevin Bennett, Fraser Lawrence. Linesmen – Zach Brooks, Ron Dietterle.