T-Birds Take 2-0 Series Lead
KENT, Wash. –Lukas Svejkovsky picked up a hat trick, Henrik Rybinski scored twice, and the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Kelowna Rockets,7-3, at the accesso ShoWare Center Saturday in the second game of their best-of-seven, first round playoff series. The T-Birds lead the series 2-0. The series now shifts to Kelowna for games three and four, Tuesday and Wednesday, at Prospera Place.
Head coach Matt O’Dette said his team has been able to cash in their chances through the first two games of the series. “It was similar in some ways (to Game One), opportunistic on the power play. Tonight, we gave them less chances on their power play, which was key.”
For the second straight night, Seattle opened the scoring with a power play goal. Rybinski’s first of the postseason came at 6:45 of the first period. Kelowna answered back four minutes later when Adam Kydd converted the Rocket’s only power play chance of game at 10:53. But it took the T-Birds, and Svejkovsky, just sixteen seconds to regain the lead at 11:09.
O’Dette said one of their keys is shifts after goals, both for and against. “That’s been one of our keys lately, game management. Knowing when the key moments are. We had a goal right after a goal against.”
The Thunderbirds used the man advantage to strike again at 5:54 of the second period. Reid Schaefer blasted home his first playoff goal, giving Seattle a 3-1 lead. Kelowna crept back within a goal when Mark Liwiski scored at 10:11 and were pressing for the equalizer. After T-Birds goalie Thomas Milic stopped Pavel Novak with a pad save on the doorstep, Seattle got their two-goal lead back when Svejkovsky scored his second of the game with just 33-seconds left in period two.
“Those are key moments in the game,” said O’Dette. “Our focus and our attention to detail needs to be a little bit better at those times and it was tonight.”
Rybinski then stretched the T-Birds lead to 5-2 with his second of the game just seventeen seconds into the third period when he jammed home a loose puck in the Rockets crease. “I just went to the net and as the goalie was trying to cover it, I got my stick under and just tried to shovel it towards the net and his five hole was, luckily, open.”
Rybinski said the goal at the end of the second and his goal early in the third, gave Seattle the momentum back. “They were playing some pretty good hockey in the second and we couldn’t really get anything going.” He said they needed to dial it in. “We believed that if we played the way we can play, with good puck management, good puck pursuit, good down low plays, we could win.”
Kelowna made it 5-3 on a Novak goal at 8:06 of the third but Svejkovsky completed his hat trick just ninety seconds later. “He can break open a game at any moment,” said O’Dette. “In the second, when they were carrying the play a little bit, he had an opportunity and put the puck in the back of the net. That’s just an example of the things he can do.”
Kevin Korchinski closed out the scoring for the T-Birds with his first of the playoffs, another power play goal, at 14:53.
T-BIRD EXTRAS
Lucas Ciona, who had a goal and an assist in Game One, was a late scratch. In his place Seattle inserted 15-year-old Bryce Pickford, who made his WHL playoff debut.
Jared Davidson finished the night with four assists. Through two playoff games he leads the T-Birds with seven points (2g, 5a).
Through two games Seattle is 7-for-14 on the power play, including 3-for-7 in Game Two.
Full boxscore: WHL Network
