Seattle 10 @Spokane 3
It was stat night Sunday evening in Spokane as the Seattle Thunderbirds (15-14-3-1) scored a season-high 10 goals in crushing the Spokane Chiefs (18-13-1-2). Nolan Volcan led the way for the T-birds with his first career five-point game, but rookies Nikita Malukhin (two goals), Jake Lee (two assists), Samuel Huo (one assist) and Mike MacLean (one assist) also got some rare points. Seattle went to their winter break on a high note while the Chiefs will have a bitter taste in their mouths .
Seattle scrapped together a goal to open the scoring 20 seconds in. Donovan Neuls notched his 17th this year on the third rebound in tight on Spokane goalie Donovan Buskey. His linemates Dillon Hamaliuk and Zack Andrusiak had some good looks right before him.
Spokane was able to answer on the power play a few minutes later. Jaret Anderson-Dolan took a cross-ice feed from Eli Zummack and used a screen to beat Matt Berlin.
Nolan Volcan gave Seattle a 2-1 lead as Spokane’s Cedric Chenier attempted to bat the puck out of the air to clear it but, it fell to the ice, right at Volcan’s feet. He drove in and beat Buskey to start off his big night.
Volcan followed up his goal with another nice read in the Spokane zone. He forced a turnover on the half boards and fed Austin Strand at the blue line. Strand drilled a shot past Buskey to give Seattle a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Volcan would keep his hot streak going in the second. He cycled the puck down low for Matthew Wedman and Wedman fed Blake Bargar in front for the Californian’s sixth of the year.
With 5:10 left in the middle frame, Nikita Malukhin scored his first WHL goal on a one-timer to make the score 5-1. That would end Buskey’s night as the netminder, starting his third game in three days, gave up five goals on 24 shots. Affiliate player Campbell Arnold came into the game in relief of Buskey, for the 15-year-old’s first WHL appearance.
Andrusiak greeted him rudely with a power play goal from the point to make it 6-1. The goal was his 18th this year. The best previous year for the 19-year-old was his six combined goals between Prince Albert and Seattle a season ago.
Anderson-Dolan scored his second on the night and 16th this year in the third period to stop the bleeding. While on the power play, he took a pass at center ice, drove the Seattle zone and promptly beat Berlin.
Riley Woods gave the crowd something to get a little excited about a minute later as he finished off a three-on-two odd-man rush with a shot over Berlin’s glove.
That would be all she wrote for Spokane though as Seattle put the game away with four more goals. First, Volcan took a big hit to free Bargar up for a mini-breakaway and Bargar notched his second of the night. Then Wedman followed up his own shot on Arnold on the power play to make it 8-3. Reece Harsch and Malukhin added two more goals to give us a 10-3 final.
Arnold gave up five goals on 10 shots in relief of Buskey. Berlin stopped 31 of 34. Seattle’s power play was 2/3, while Spokane’s was 2/4.
The Thunderbirds and Chiefs play each other again in just over a week. They face off in Spokane on December 27th.
