T-Birds Can’t Claw Past Cougars
KENT, Wash. – A goal in the first minute of the third period helped the Prince George Cougars pull away and defeat the Seattle Thunderbirds, 5-2, Friday at the accesso ShoWare Center. The Thunderbirds have a quick turnaround. They are in Spokane Saturday to face their division rivals, the Spokane Chiefs, at the Spokane Veterans Memorial Arena.
“It’s just the game management stuff we talk about,” said head coach Matt O’Dette of the loss. “You’ve got to play a really clean game against those types of teams. We’re not defending as well as we’d like right now. We’re duplicating some of the mistakes that are getting us in the D-zone.”
Prince George grabbed a 2-0 first period lead with goals ten minutes apart. The T-Birds (1-3-1-0) responded with a power play goal with ten seconds remaining in the period. Arjun Bawa, a former Cougar, scored his second goal in as many games. Brayden Holberton and Sawyer Mynio picked up the assists.
“I thought the goal was a combination of good pressure, good movement,” remarked O’Dette. “We had multiple looks at the net. We broke down their penalty kill with that one.”
Prince George got that one back with a power play goal of their own midway through the second period, then got the back breaker just 57-seconds into period three.
Down by only two goals entering the third, O’Dette felt his team had a chance to get back in the game. “Second period, I thought we had a good period there. I think we gained some momentum. We were confident we could come back but we gave up that goal in the first minute.”
The Cougars would tack on a fifth goal midway through the final frame. The T-Birds got a Sam Charko goal late to close out the scoring with Kaleb Hartmann and goaltender Grayson Malinoski assisting.
Disappointed with loss, O’Dette still felt the T-Birds did some good things. “Taking away the positive, that’s one of the best teams in the country and I thought we played them pretty tight. There are things to clean up, but effort wise, work ethic, that stuff was there.”
The Thunderbirds return home next Tuesday when they welcome the Tri-City Americans to town for a 7:05 p.m. game.
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
Matej Pekar, whom the T-Birds drafted in the first round of this past summer’s CHL Import Draft, made his Seattle debut against Prince George.
Goalie Scott Ratzlaff was returned to Seattle by the NHL’s Buffalo Sabres and could be ready to start Saturday in Spokane.
Antonio Martorana continues to be out of the lineup with a lower body injury and is listed as day-to-day.
Boxscore: Prince George Cougars at Seattle Thunderbirds – Friday, October 4, 2024 (chl.ca)