Not all wins are created equal but all wins are equal in value. When you add them up, an 11-3 win is the same as a 2-1 win in overtime. They are both worth two points in the standings. Seatle has played Everett twice and won both times. Once 11-3 and once 2-1, and 2+2=4.
So you've gone through a slow schedule to start the season. You play just 11 games over a month's time. Then boom, three games in four nights and the pace is picking up. Screeeech! Throw on the brakes! You're back to playing once over the course of ten days. Hard to get game consistency or rythm from that. It is, as they say, what it is, but it will have an affect on your performance.
It's like driving on I-5. You're zooming along at the speed limit and then you hit a patch of congestion in Federal Way and have to slow down. You have your foot on the accelerator and all of a sudden you have to pump the brakes. You'd rather be back on the gas pedal but you have to be patient until traffic clears.
That and a few other things came together Saturday night to affect the Thunderbird effort against Everett. First, give the Silvertips their props. They are dealing with some injury issues. They weren't shorthanded but did have a few key pieces missing from the lineup. They had a game plan and stuck to it, making it difficult for Seattle to get into the interior of the offensive zone much of the game.
As the game wore on though, the Thunderbirds did a better job of getting traffic to the house. Give credit to Everett's goalie Braden Holt. He held Seattle at bay as long as he could. In the end, Seattle was able to find a few cracks.
The midweek trade that brought Nolan Allan into the fold had an impact on Seattle's forward depth. The trade of Gabe Ludwig and Brayden Dube was felt in that game. Their departure left the T-Birds with just 12 forwards. They did add Ty Hurley in a separate trade but he was not available Saturday night. The Thunderbirds essentially used two d-men (Mittelstadedt and Pickford) on their fourth line. In reality, Seattle just rolled three lines most of the night.
Getting Coster Dunn back from injury and inserting Hurley into the lineup will help but it's very possible between now and the trade deadline T-Birds GM Bil LaForge looks to acquire another impact forward.
The Thunderbirds played the game without another of their big, recent acquisitions as defenseman Luke Prokop was out of the lineup with a lower body injury. I don't mean to minimize Prokop's impact because, when healthy he's going to be a key player if Seattle goes deep this postseason. But what a game young 16 year old Hyde Davidson had, essentially stepping into Prokop's ice time.
He won so many key puck battles in the defensive zone. His stick, it seems, is always in the right position and he doesn't shy from physical contact. He also doesn't hesitate to join the offensive push. Look, I'm no expert, I'm just an observer. But I've been around the organization and the league for over 20 years and I've seen players like Thomas Hickey, Brenden Dillon, Shea Theodore, Ethan Bear and Kevin Korchinski come through those doors. You knew when you watched them play early on in their T-birds careers you were watching something special. Hyde Davidson is in that mold. Bryce Pickford, while a different sytle of player, is in that mold as well.
When you have young talent like that already in the system, you can afford to trade draft picks. By the way, most of the picks Seattle has traded recently, were picks they acquired from other teams in trades made over the last four seasons. Like the pipeline, the draft pick cupboard is not bare. Seattle has not mortgaged their future for a 2023 Cup run. The Thunderbirds still are in possession of first and second round picks in both 2023 and 2024.
Props to Nolan Allan. Traded to Seattle midweek, he got in his car in Prince Albert and drove 18 hours across Western Canada to get to his new team. Most likely he was skating on fumes and adrenaline Saturday. Once he settled in you saw how good he is at closing down on puck carriers.
In the five games before the acquistion of Prokop and Allan Seattle had surrendered 21goals. In the four games since, they allowed just six and only five in regulation. In the five games before the trades Seattle was shorthanded 21 times and gave up eight power play goals. In the four games since the T-Birds have killed 12/13 penalties.
Yes. The power play is struggling. Just 4 for their last 36. There's is too much talent out their for that to keep up. Maybe the Crnkovic power play goal opens the dam. At the very least, just keep shooting. Those power play goals are probably going to come off a rebound or a deflection. Once they get a fewe in, the confidence will return. Right now I see too much hesitiation.
My T-Birds Three Stars for Saturday:
Third Star: D Kevin Korchinski. I've actually loved his last two games. Complete efforts in both the OT loss to Calgary and the OT win over Everett. He's controlling a lot of the play, carrying the puck up ice and being strong on the puck in the defensive zone. It appeared he was shadowing Everett's Olen Zellweger much of the night Saturday, especially when the Silvertips were on the power play. Zellweger is Everett's catalyst and a tough player to defend when he's on the puck. Korchinski did a good job of taking awasy his time and space.
Second Star: W Kyle Crnkovic. It had been five games since Crnkovic had scored a goal and he came into Saturday's game with just one goal in his last nine. That's the life of a goal scorer. It's a streaky business. Hopefully his power play goal starts another goal scoring streak. It wasn't just that he scored a goal, but the way he scored it, slipping through the defense and then taking enough off the shot to offer a change of pace that froze the goalie. He nearly scored a gain, late inthe game, shorthanded. Don't let that distract from that fact he played a 200 foot game and created a number of neutral zone turnovers.
First Star: G Thomas Milic. Milic led the Seattle offense with....two assists? Yep, that's right. he had an assist on both Seattle goals. He allowed just one goal against on 22 shots and it was a bit of a flukey one at that. Only four goals allowed in his last three starts, stopping 78 of 82 shots. Remember when his goals against average was close to 4.00 and his save percentage around .890? Well things are more Mili like at 2.80 and .906.
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