Hurricanes Drop Shootout Decision to Thunderbirds
Kent, WA – The Lethbridge Hurricanes suffered their fourth-straight loss on Saturday falling 5-4 in a shootout to the Seattle Thunderbirds at the accesso ShoWare Center.
The ‘Canes entered on a three-game losing streak as they ended a three-game US Division road swing on Seattle’s teddy bear toss game. The Thunderbirds didn’t take long to send the bears flying as Braeden Cootes ripped home his ninth goal of the season just 3:58 into the game beating Brady Smith low-blocker to make it 1-0 Seattle; Nathan Pilling and Owen Boucher earned the assists on the Teddy Bear Toss goal. The Hurricanes tied the game with a power play goal at the 11:20 mark when Trae Johnson buried his first as a ‘Cane and first in 43 games to tie the game 1-1; Logan Wormald and Noah Chadwick earned the assists on the equalizing goal. Seattle pulled back in front with a goal off the rush by Coster Dunn who rifled a wrist-shot over the blocker of Smith to make it 2-1 Thunderbirds after twenty minutes of play. Lethbridge and Seattle both had 14 shots in the game.
Seattle added to their lead early in the second period as Antonio Martorana buried a rebound for his third goal of the year just 1:19 into the frame to make it a 3-1 Thunderbirds lead; Dunn and Pilling picked up the helpers on the goal. The Hurricanes pulled back to within a goal with another power play goal when Kooper Gizowski ended an 11-game goal drought with his fifth of the year to make it 3-2; Brayden Edwards and Chadwick earned the helpers. The ‘Canes had a glorious opportunity to pull even with a full two minutes on a five-on-three man advantage, but the T-Birds penalty kill was able to limit just three shots and hold their lead. Late in the period, Miguel Marques was assessed a high-sticking penalty putting Seattle on the power play, but it was the ‘Canes that struck for their fourth shorthanded goal of the season; Scott Ratzlaff came out to play the puck but dropped his stick and Johnson was able to steal the puck and centre to Hayden Pakkala who wired home his third goal to tie the game 3-3 with 1.6-seconds left in the period – Vojtech Port earned his first point as a Hurricane with an assist on the goal. Shots favoured the Hurricanes 9-8 in the middle frame.
The T-Birds opened the third period with a carry-over on the Marques penalty, but the ‘Canes were able to kill of the early power play chance for Seattle. The Thunderbirds broke the 3-3 tie at the 11:23 mark when Nishaan Parmar capitalized on a defensive zone turnover to put Seattle ahead with 8:37 remaining in the game. The ‘Canes pulled the goaltender late in the contest to go six-on-five the Lethbridge tied the game with 1:29 remaining when Marques buried a rebound for his 10th goal to tie the game 4-4; Braillard and Edwards earned the assists on the equalizer. Seattle outshot Lethbridge 13-8 in the third period.
It marked the third time this season that the Hurricanes had gone past sixty minutes and they had an early chance to win it when Wormald cut to the net, but was stopped by Ratzlaff before Chadwick was robbed on a two-on-one. Seattle was given a power play when Will Sharpe was penalized for interference, but despite great pressure, the Hurricanes were able to kill it off as the game went to a shootout.
In the shootout, Cootes scored to give the T-Birds the advantage, but Wormald answered to tie. Marques and Matej Pekar were both stopped before Martorana scored and Ratzlaff shut the door on Braillard to give Seattle the 5-4 shootout victory.
The Hurricanes were outshot 38-33 in the game by the Thunderbirds. Lethbridge went 2/6 on the power play while going 6/6 on the penalty kill.
Three stars of the game were:
1) T-Birds – #9 Coster Dunn (1 goal)
2) ‘Canes – #19 Brayden Edwards (2 assists)
3) T-Birds – #86 Cootes (1 goal)
The loss for the Hurricanes was their fourth-straight defeat as they go 0-2-0-1 on their three-game US Division road swing. Lethbridge’s road record falls to 4-6-0-1 on the season as their overall record fell to 12-8-1-1 on the year. The ‘Canes are now 1-3-1-1 against Western Conference opponents.
The Hurricanes will continue a five-game road trip on Friday, November 29th when they visit the Saskatoon Blades at SaskTel Centre at 6:00pm MT. Lethbridge will return home to welcome the Moose Jaw Warriors on Tuesday, December 3rd at 7:00pm at the VisitLethbridge.com Arena. Tickets can be purchased by visiting the Yates Memorial Theatre or VisitLethbridge.com Arena Ticket Centre, by calling 403-329-SEAT (7328) or online at www.visitlethbridgearena.ca.
