Royals take another run at Seattle Thunderbirds
With apologies to Butch and Sundance, but who are those guys?
The Victoria Royals’ league second-worst power play finally got untracked and scored twice in a 5-3 Western Hockey League victory Wednesday night over the Seattle Thunderbirds before 3,181 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.
Danish junior international Phillip Schultz scored a hat-trick for the Royals in nearly every way possible — on the power play, evenstrength and into an empty net.
Kaid Oliver scored the other odd-man goal on a night the Victoria power play needed to be a factor against the most penalized team in the league.
Dino Kambeitz scored the other goal as the Royals moved to 26-21-3. Blue-liner and third-round Montreal Canadiens draft pick Scott Walford continued finding his offensive stride with three assists.
The Thunderbirds have only three players remaining from the 2016-17 team, led by current New York Islanders star Mathew Barzal, which won the only WHL championship in the 43-year history of the Seattle franchise.
Andrej Kukuca scored twice for the Thunderbirds, who dropped to 20-25-6, in their desperate race for a wildcard playoff berth.
Sitting a healthy veteran Griffen Outhouse, one of the best goaltenders in the WHL, for a second consecutive night was an interesting coaching decision by Victoria — even during a stretch in which the Royals are playing 14 games in 28 days.
The Thunderbirds didn’t hesitate in going twice in two nights with their sudden go-to creaseman Roddy Ross, the six-foot-two 18-year-old find, who has been a revelation in 12 appearances since being signed in January from the Camrose Kodiaks out the Alberta Junior Hockey League. Ross was again solid in a 34-save performance.
The game didn’t get off to an auspicious start for the Royals as a glaring defensive turnover allowed Henrik Rybinski to score on Seattle's first attempt just 47 seconds into the game.
Rookie Brock Gould, shaky in a 5-3 Thunderbirds victory on Tuesday, settled down to make 22 saves for the Royals on Wednesday.
The Royals begin a five-game, 1,700-kilometre road swing Friday in Spokane against the Chiefs and Saturday in Kennewick, Washington, against the Tri-City Americans, followed by contests Feb. 13 in Kamloops and Feb. 15-16 in Prince George.