Thunderbirds extend WHL Championship Series with Game 5 victory

Edmonton, Alta. – Lucas Ciona’s goal 2:21 into the third period stood up as the game-winner, and the Seattle Thunderbirds forced a Game 6 in the 2022 WHL Championship Series with a 3-2 victory over the Edmonton Oil Kings.

Thunderbirds goaltender Thomas Milic turned aside 28 shots, including 13 in the third period as Seattle withstood an Edmonton rally to extend the series, and to improve to 6-0 when facing elimination in these playoffs.

“Going through adversity through the season has strengthened our team, strengthened our resolve, said Thunderbirds head coach Matt O’Dette.

“We know we can get through situations, bumps in the road, so when the playoffs come, several different things have happened to us, and we’ve seen it all,” O’Dette added.

Edmonton struck first 6:25 into the first period. Vegas Golden Knights prospect Jakub Demek fished a puck out of the right wing corner before firing a pass to the front of the net, finding linemate Josh Williams who then re-directed the puck past Seattle netminder Thomas Milic.

The Thunderbirds outshot the Oil Kings 10-7 in the opening frame, and evened the score 2:13 into the second period thanks to Dallas Stars propect Conner Roulette. The Seattle forward fought off a check in neutral ice, kicking the puck to his stick before firing a shot through the pads of Edmonton goaltender Sebastian Cossa.

Seattle took the lead on a power-play just under seven minutes later. New York Rangers prospect Matthew Rempe found space in the offensive zone, accepting the puck in the high slot and wiring a snapshot past Cossa’s blocker hand.

Rempe has scored in each of the three games at Rogers Place in the 2022 WHL Championship Series.

Both goaltenders made big saves down the stretch in period two especially Cossa, who kept the Thunderbirds from extending their lead in the final minute by slamming the door shut on a breakaway attempt by Lukas Svejkovsky.

Seattle extended its lead to 3-1 on Ciona’s goal. The Calgary Flames prospect drove the net from the left side, collecting a rebound off the initial chance before depositing his ninth goal of the post-season.

The Oil Kings fired 14 shots at the Thunderbirds goal in period three, drawing within one when Carson Golder redirected a shot past Milic’s right pad for his sixth point of the series.

Milic stayed composed, and stayed tall, robbing Edmonton’s Jakub Demek on a point-blank chance with two minutes remaining to seal the victory for Seattle.

“They had a bit of a push in the second period, we kind of sat back, but I liked our third, I thought we had a lot of pushback,” said Oil Kings head coach Brad Lauer, “we just ran out of time.”

Seattle has now won twice on the road in the WHL Championship Series, and have come out on top in all four do-or-die games it has faced away from home.

“We’re a resilient group, we’ve been in this situation before and we can draw on that experience,” said Matt O’Dette.

“Our goal going into the game was to earn another game and that’s what we did tonight.”

Cossa made 31 saves in the Oil Kings crease.

The Thunderbirds finished 1/5 on the power-play, while Edmonton went 0/6.

Game 6 is slated for Monday, June 13 (7:30 p.m. MT, Rogers Place, TSN 3/4, Fox13+) with Seattle designated as the home team.