T-Birds Trip up Tri-City
KENNEWICK, Wash. – Hayden Pakkala scored once and added two assists as the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Tri-City Americans, 5-1 Sunday at the Toyota Center. The win reduces the Thunderbirds magic number to clinch a playoff spot to one point entering the final week of the regular season.
“I thought we were on task from the start of the game,” said head coach Matt O’Dette. “Much better effort, much better composure compared to Saturday. Definitely a more mature hockey game from our team.”
Seattle (27-33-4-1) got the offense going early when Pakkala scored at 1:12 of the first period, assisted by Coster Dunn. Then at 11:37 of the period, Pakkala won a faceoff to the right of the Tri-City goal. He fed the puck back to Simon Lovsin who rifled in his tenth of the season giving the T-Birds a two-goal lead going into the first intermission.
The T-Birds extended the lead at 5:30 of period two with Kaleb Hartmann scoring. Nathan Pilling and Tai Riley earned the assists. “I just saw Plllsy come up the wall and made a read, saw the player on him was close to him, so I slipped back and got a lucky poke,” explained Hartmann of his third goal of the season. “There was a screen in front, and I just put it right there.”
The Americans lone goal came five minutes later, and the teams left the ice after forty minutes with Seattle leading, 3-1.
The T-Birds put the game away with two more goals in the third period. Pilling redirected in a shot from the blue line from Ashton Cumby at 11:15, and with just under a minute left Sam Charko scored off another Pakkala assist.
Scott Ratzlaff turned aside 40 shots to earn the win in goal. “A little bit too high event game in some stretches,” remarked O’Dette, “Scotty was, obviously, really good. Just calm and cool and shut some of that stuff down.”
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
The win was the 27th of the season for the Thunderbirds equaling their win total from last season.
It was also the 250th coaching win for Matt O’Dette.
Seattle can clinch the final playoff spot before they play again. A loss by the Kamloops Blazers would do it. The Blazers host the Victoria Royals Tuesday.
The win in net was the 86th in his Thunderbirds career for Scott Ratzlaff, third all-time in franchise history.
Boxscore: Seattle Thunderbirds at Tri-City Americans – Sunday, March 16, 2025
