We may be a week past Valentine's Day, but the Thunderbirds are still in love with winning this month. Seven up, seven down. The latest victims? The Tri-City Americans, Spokane Chiefs and the Portland Winterhawks as Seattle takes both games this weekend to go with their win Tuesday.
We talked about the Friday game against Spokane as being a potential "trap" game, with the showdown in Portland looming the following night. It would have been easy for the T-birds to overlook a Spokane team they have dominated, especially in the second half of the season. There may have been a little bit of that, but they did what they needed in order to win that game. It wasn't their most complete effort but, they took care of business.
They beat Spokane without a single point from their top four scorers. It was another example of the team's depth rising up as players like Ludwig, Myatovic, Mynio and Okonkwo Prada stepped forward. It also doesn't hurt when your number two goalie plays like a number one.
Seattle's first six wins this month were against the bottom five teams in the Western Conference. All have losing records. Combined those five teams have a 78-138-13-3 record. The T-birds should win those games and they did, just like the other Western Conference teams near the top of the standings are doing.
But the T-birds hadn't beaten a team with a winning record in over a month. Of course, they rarely played a team with a winning record in that span. Still, they were just 1-2-1-1 since January 14th. Sure, there were mitigating circumstances. Seattle played a number of those games with a less than full roster but Saturday's game down in Portland was a bit of a litmus test for the T-birds. They passed the test with flying colors.
Your first inclination might be to say, of course they did. They were finally whole and complete. this is what this team is capable of when they have their full complement of players available. Except that wasn't the case, was it? No Ty Bauer, no Sam Knazko and, for most of the game, no Matt Rempe. Three NHL drafted players unavailable. Oh, and you take a couple of early penalties and one of your best penalty killers, Nico Myatovic, is out of the lineup with an injury.
No, Saturday the T-birds best weapon wasn't their nearly full roster, it was their singular focus. After the game, head coach Matt O'Dette said as much. "Part of our keys (to the game) was composure. Whatever odd things can happen during a game here, we were going to keep our composure. Every guy was focused on their next shift."
That focus was evident on the early five-minute penalty kill. Seattle limited Portland to just a few shots on goal. Yes, they did get that late goal as the penalty was nearly over, but had they lost their composure there, it could have been much worse and led to a bigger hole to dig out from. They limited the damage and did the same on the second Portland power play a minute later. And when the T-birds were shorthanded again early in the second period, and the Winterhawks had another chance to add to their lead, the T-birds penalty killers did it again.
Every opportunity Portland had to take over that game, was thwarted by the T-birds laser-like focus. And once Seattle scored to tie the game, it was they who took the game over.
I was disappointed for Thomas Milic when he didn't get drafted last summer by an NHL team. But there is a little part of me now, that is just a bit glad that didn't happen. I think Milic is playing this season with a bit of a chip on his shoulder for that slight. I think it helps him focus. He's motivated to prove to 32 NHL teams that they were wrong to pass him up. He outdueled his counterpart, Portland's Taylor Gauthier, another goalie I can't figure out why he wasn't drafted. Two of the WHL's best netminders going head-to-head and Milic won this round.
You lose a Myatovic to injury and you plug in a Ludwig. That was what happened this weekend for the T-birds. Gabe Ludwig missed the first five games of February while in Covid Protocol. In his first two games back, two big assists.
Seattle will still trail Portland in the standings when the weekend is over. They'll either be two or four points back of the Winterhawks depending on the results of Portland's Sunday game against Spokane. Either way, when Monday arrives, Seattle will have four games in hand and control their own destiny in the battle for second place in the U.S. Division.
Seattle is soon to get a key piece back in their lineup when defenseman Sam Knazko returns from capturing a bronze medal at the Winter Olympics in Beijing. In his absence three players, Chase Lacombe, Sawyer Mynio and Leon Okonkwo Prada stepped up big time, eating up quality minutes and contributing at the offensive end as well. As a result, the T-birds D-group is leaps better than they were when Knazko departed back in late January.
My T-birds Three Stars for the Week:
Third Star: C/W Sam Popowich. He's generously listed at 5'9" but he is a prime example that size in this game doesn't matter, if you don't let it define you. He plays the game the right way. With Rempe out of the game following the early major penalty Saturday in Portland, Popowich was elevated to the top power play unit, and he delivered a big, primary assist on the game winning power play goal. He's a terrific penalty killer as well and scored the game winning goal against Tri-City Tuesday, shorthanded.
Second Star: D Leon Okonkwo Prada. He has taken advantage of the absence of Ty Bauer and Sam Knazko. Getting more minutes, his game is improving day-to-day as he adjusts to the North American game. I think he enjoys the physical aspect of the game over here. He was exceptional on the penalty kill Saturday in Portland. For the week he had three assists and finished the three games with a +5 rating.
First Star: D Kevin Korchinski. It only seems like he's on the ice for sixty minutes each game, because when he's out there, you notice him for all the right reasons. He rarely makes the wrong decision with the puck. He controls the game. His skating is a combination of Mat Barzal and Shea Theodore. His hockey IQ is off the charts. Four assists and plus four on the week. He is now first among WHL rookie defensemen in scoring with 42-points.
No comments:
Post a Comment