Blazers trail series 3-1 after 8-4 loss in
Game 4
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| Jared Davidson had a Gordie Howe hat trick on Thursday. |
On Tuesday, the Thunderbirds suffered their first setback in the WHL Playoffs dropping a 4-1 decision in Game 3 to the host Kamloops Blazers at the Sandman Centre in the Western Conference Championship Series. With the Game 3 victory, the Blazers cut the Thunderbirds lead in the best-of-seven series to 2-1.
On Thursday in Game 4 in Kamloops, the Thunderbirds took a 3-1 lead into the first intermission, saw the Blazers even the score at 3-3 the 11:21 mark of the second and rolled off three straight goals to cruise to an eventual 8-4 victory to disappoint almost all of the 5,506 spectators in attendance at the Sandman Centre. With the win, the Thunderbirds take a 3-1 lead in the series.
The Thunderbirds will attempt to close out the series on Saturday when they host Game 5 at the Accesso ShoWare Center in Kent, Wash., at 6 p.m. local time. If the Blazers are able to win Game 5, they would push the series to a Game 6 to be held in Kamloops on Monday at the Sandman Centre at 7 p.m. local time.
In Game 4 on Thursday, the Thunderbirds were powered by a big night from star centre Dylan Guenther, who had a hat trick and an assist. He opened the game’s scoring on a beauty setup pass from linemate Brad Lambert at the 3:09 mark of the opening frame.
Lambert had the puck at the left side boards in the Kamloops and put a backdoor pass across the face of the Blazers net to Guenther at the right post. Guenther popped the puck into an empty cage to give the visitors their one-goal edge.
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| Olen Zellweger. |
Blazers standout left-winger Daylan Kuefler immediately came in to fight Davidson. Both players were given fighting majors and Kuefler received a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Seattle wasn’t able to score on the ensuing power play.
The Thunderbirds pushed their edge out to 2-0, when offensive-defenceman Kevin Korchinski fired home a shot from the left point in the Kamloops zone with 8:12 remaining in the first. Blazers star right-winger Matthew Seminoff tallied on the power play deflecting home a shot from Caedan Bankier with 1:57 remaining in the first to cut the Seattle lead to 2-1.
In the dying seconds of the opening frame, Guenther stole the puck from a couple of Blazers at the left side boards just inside the Kamloops zone. Guenther proceeded to drive hard to the Kamloops net and snapped home his second goal of the night with 1.7 seconds remaining in the frame to give the Thunderbirds a 3-1 lead.
The Blazers didn’t go away. Just 72 seconds in the second, star offensive-defenceman Olen Zellweger scored his 10th goal of the post-season to cut the Thunderbirds lead to 3-2.
At the 2:38 mark of the frame, the Blazers thought they evened the score at 3-3 with a power-play goal from captain and star centre Logan Stankoven. The officials immediate waved off the goal giving a penalty to Zellweger for goaltender interference.
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| Dylan Guenther. |
The Thunderbirds weren’t able to score on the ensuing power play. At the 11:21 mark of the third Zellweger scored his second of the night and 11th of the post-season to even the score 3-3.
Just two minutes and nine seconds later, Thunderbirds star left-winger Kyle Crnkovic fired home a goal from the right slot to put the visitors back out in front 4-3.
Seattle opened the third pushing their advantage out to 6-3 with goals coming from the sticks of Davidson and Bryce Pickford. Blazers right-winger Dylan Sydor scored with 7:59 remaining in the third to cut the Seattle lead to 6-4.
Just 2:18 after Sydor’s tally, Guenther completed his hat trick netting his 14th of the post-season to give Seattle a 7-4 lead. Thunderbirds left-winger Reid Schaefer rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net tally with 5:04 remaining in the third.
Davidson had an assist on Schaefer’s tally to complete the Gordie Howe hat trick with a goal, an assist and one fight. On top of getting the Gordie Howe hat trick, Davidson’s tally allowed him to tie the Thunderbirds record for career post-season goals at 21 with Scott Eansor, who played for the Thunderbirds from 2013 to 2017 helping them win a WHL title in 2017.
Milic stopped 36 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Thunderbirds. Dylan Ernst turned away 33-of-40 shots to take the setback in net for the Blazers.
The series between the Thunderbirds and Blazers was expected to be a heavyweight battle.
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| Kevin Korchinski scored for the Thunderbirds on Thursday. |
The Blazers finished second overall in the Western Conference and third overall in the WHL regular season with a 48-13-4-3 mark. The B.C. Division champions were rated ninth in the final CHL Top 10 rankings.
Seattle’s roster contains 10 players who have been drafted by NHL teams, while Kamloops has nine NHL drafted players on their roster. The Thunderbirds have seven players who participated in the last world juniors, and the Blazers have three players who took part in this past world juniors.
The Thunderbirds were without standout centre Jordan Gustafson for a second straight game. It is suspected Gustafson was injured as part of the celebration for Hanzel’s overtime winner in Game 2 of the series claimed by the Thunderbirds 4-3. The Blazers were without defencemen Logan Bairos and Ryan Michael.
The winner of the series between the Thunderbirds and Blazers advances to face the Winnipeg Ice in the best-of-seven WHL Championship Series. The Ice swept the Saskatoon Blades 4-0 in a best-of-seven Eastern Conference Championship Series.
Winnipeg topped the WHL regular season standings with a 57-10-1 mark and was rated third in the final CHL Top 10 Rankings. The 57 wins and 115 standings points are new franchise records for the Ice.
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| Kyle Crnkovic scored for the Thunderbirds on Thursday. |
As it stands right now, the Thunderbirds are one win away from going to Winnipeg.
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