The Thunderbirds finished off their February schedule in fine fashion, sweeping a pair of home games from division rivals Tri-City and Portland. In the process they extended their current winning streak to a season best ten game. Seattle finishes the month with an 11-1-0-0 mark. The only blemish was a 1-0 loss February 4th in Everett. In fact, the T-Birds are 15-2-0-0 since returning off their eastern road trip.
We are now down to the final twelve games of the regular season. Seattle has already wrapped up their playoff spot. They've clinched home ice for the opening round of the postseason. They'll use these dozen March games to try and check off a few more goals on their list before the postseason begins. First up is claiming the U.S. Division banner. After defeating Portland Saturday, they have whittled their magic number for doing that to a scant eight points. It's a goal they could possibly reach next weekend when they play three times in three days.
After that they'll look to clinch the best record in the Western Conference. It's basically down to Seattle and Kamloops. The T-Birds enter the final twelve games with a ten point lead over the Blazers. Kamloops does have a game in hand. The two teams will meet three times in March. The Thunderbirds do have a slightly more difficult schedule remaining, but they control their own destiny. If Seattle can continue their domination of the U.S. Division then the Kamloops games won't matter in the chase. Five of Seattle's next six games are against Tri-City and Everett. Collectively the Thunderbirds are 10-2-0-0 against the Americans and Silvertips this season.
Seattle is one point behind Winnipeg for the Scotty Munro Trophy that goes to the team with the best overall regular season record in the WHL. Winnipeg does have two games in hand, so the T-birds would need help to claim that crown. Remember last season though? Winnipeg won the Scotty Munro Trophy but didn't advance past the Eastern Conference Final, losing to Edmonton.
Maybe the most important goal going forward for Seattle is getting and staying healthy. This second half is somewhat similar to the T-Birds second half a season ago. They dealt with a lot of injuries but got healthy just as the postseason began and went on a run that carried them to the WHL Championship Series. Let's hope history repeats itself.
During their current ten game winning streak the Thunderbirds have allowed a paltry ten goals to the opposition, outscoring their opponents 53-10. In the month of February, Seattle surrendered just sixteen goals in twelve games. That's a mind blowing stat. In the twelve games played in February, Seattle outscored the opposition 59-16. On the season the Thunderbirds have given up a league low 126 goals, 13 fewer than Winnipeg and Saskatoon.
Seattle played Saturday without three NHL draft picks, Jared Davidson, Colton Dach and Jordan Gustafson in the lineup. Two NHL first round picks, Brad Lambert and Dylan Guenther, didn't register a point. The T-Birds still won, 4-1.
How? Because depth players like Sam Popowich and Tij Iginla, among others, stepped up and delivered. With all the high end talent on this team, with ten NHL draft picks on the roster, a player like Popowich can fly under the radar. But Saturday his value was on full display against Portland. He wins puck battles, he wins faceoffs and he's one of the team's best penalty killers. With Gustafson sidelined for over a month now, Popowich has stepped in and filled that void. You win championships with players like Poppy.
My Three T-Birds Stars for the Week (last four games):
Third Star: G Thomas Milic. By a hair I give my third star to Milic over Scott Ratzlaff. Both goalies went 2-0. Both goalies allowed just one goal against. Both posted a shutout. But based on his 15-save third period Saturday against Portland, I give Milic the edge. He didn't just close the door on a Portland comeback attempt, he slammed it shut.
Second Star: C/W Sam Popowich. He earned five points (2g, 3a) in the four games and finished with a plus/minus rating of plus six. He also won more than fifty percent of his faceoffs (30/46) and was instrumental in the Thunderbird going a perfect 16-for-16 on the penalty kill. He's a prototypical plug and play type players. Seattle's coaches can and do use him up and down the lineup.
First Star: LW Reid Schaefer. Welcome back to the goal scoring Reido! After a 14 game stretch where he couldn't buy a goal, he finished the week with four. Eight points in his last three games (4g, 4a). Two of his goals were game winners. In fact nearly one-third of his 23-goals this season (7) are game winning goals, which leads the team. This week he became the fifth Thunderbird to hit the 20-goal mark this season.
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