The Penticton Vees jumped out to a 4-0 lead before hanging on for a 5-4 shootout victory over the Seattle Thunderbirds. 

The Vees climb to 31-10-4-3 on the season with the win.

The Vees struck four times in the first period.  

It started with Diego Johnson’s 16th of the year 2:56 in. Then, Johnson assisted on a backdoor tap-in to Brittan Alstead at 12:32. 

Brady Birnie ripped one high-blocker all alone in front for his 18th of the season, extending his point streak to eight straight games, and then with 57 seconds left in the period Johnson struck for his second of the night to make it 4-0 heading into the first intermission. 

The Thunderbirds took the momentum back with two goals in the second period. First, Cameron Schmidt found the net on a solid individual effort and then Antonio Martorana found the back of the net to make it 4-2 heading into the third period. 

Seattle got within one early in the third off the stick of Noah Kosick and then with the goaltender pulled the came all the way back to tie it 4-4 with Coster Dunn finding the net off a faceoff. 

The game went to overtime and in the extra frame the Vees killed off 1:32 of Thunderbirds powerplay time and the game went to a shootout. 

Brittan Alstead scored the only goal in the shootout with Ethan McCallum stopping all three shots he faced giving the Vees the 5-4 victory. 

 

 

 

 

GAME STATS

Shots:

Vees- 28

Thunderbirds- 44

 

Scoring:

Vees- Diego Johnson (2), Brittan Alstead, Brady Birnie, Brittan Alstead (Shootout)

Thunderbirds- Cameron Schmidt, Antonio Martorana, Noah Kosick, Coster Dunn

 

Power Plays:

Vees- 0/4

Thunderbirds- 0/5

 

Goaltending:

Vees- Ethan McCaullum 40/44

Thunderbirds- Marek Sklenicka- 24/28

 

Up Next: The Vees are off to Spokane to take on the Chiefs on Wednesday, Feb. 4 for a 7:00PM puck drop.