Spokane, Wash. – Scott Ratzlaff kicked out 28 of the 29 shots he faced, and the Seattle Thunderbirds defeated the Spokane Chiefs Friday, 4-1, at the Spokane Arena. Mekai Sanders chipped in two goals as the T-birds won their fourth straight, and third in a row on the road. Game four of Seattle’s five straight away from home is Saturday in Kennewick, when the Thunderbirds face the Tri-City Americans at the Toyota Center. Game time is 7:00 p.m.
With only eleven forwards available Head Coach Matt O’Dette needed his team to pull together to secure the win. “Sometimes you have to dig deeper and we needed that tonight. Our depth guys had fantastic games. Sanders did a little bit of everything out there.” O’Dette also singled out one player who didn’t register a point. “(Sam) Popowich was great, blocking shots, drawing penalties and driving the play for us.” He said this game was another example of the T-birds depth. “We need guys to step up in key moments and guys are doing that for us right now.”
The game was a goaltending battle between Ratzlaff and Spokane’s Manny Panghli through the first 37-minutes. Ratzlaff, in just his second start of the season, says he was helped by the way his teammates played in front of him. “The defense held them pretty well and kept them to the outside, so I didn’t really have too many quality chances against me.”
One of those chances was a breakaway by the Chiefs leading scorer, Luke Toporowski, in the first period. Ratzlaff was up to the task. “He was getting in real close. I just tried to play my angles and he shot it right into my glove. It felt good.”
Seattle finally broke the scoreless deadlock with a power play goal off the stick of Jordan Gustafson at 17:49 on the second period. Henrik Rybinski and Jared Davidson earned the assists. The Thunderbirds doubled the lead with just 37-seconds left in the period when Sanders scored the first of his two on the night. Rybinski set up the goal with a pass out front from behind the Chiefs net. Nico Myatovic picked up the second assist on what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
The Thunderbirds got some breathing room seven minutes into the third period when Davidson potted his first goal of the season. Davidson expressed relief at finally getting his first. “It was a good play, lots of things were going on. Had a teammate going to the net hard so he had the goalie’s eyes. Easy shot, so just put it in.”
Sanders put the game out of reach when he tallied again at 14:37 and Davidson added to his point total with the lone assist. Spokane’s Graham Sward spoiled Ratzlaff’s shutout bid with a shorthanded goal at 16:37.
T-BIRDS EXTRAS
Seattle dressed only 11 forwards against Spokane. Gabe Ludwig and Alessandro Segafredo missed the game due to illness and are listed as day to day.
Gustafson now has goals in three straight games while Rybinski has points in his last three games. Conner Roulette was held off the scoresheet, snapping his three-game scoring streak.
Ratzlaff has two starts this season, both against Spokane. He’s 2-0, stopping 54 of 58 shots.
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October 30, 2021 at 02:11PM
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