Thunderbirds move on with a Game 7 victory

There were only 3,077 in attendance at KeyArena, but Bud Holloway gave them a major assist in the Seattle Thunderbirds' 4-2 win over the Kelowna Rockets in Game 7 of their first-round Western Hockey League series Tuesday night.

The T-birds were forced to kill off eight Kelowna power plays, including nearly two minutes of 5-on-3 in the second period and then a four-minute major in the third. The small crowd roared its approval with each clear and Holloway said it was impossible not to be inspired by all the cheers.

"For a rink that doesn't really come alive too much, the Key was really behind us and those fans really gave us some momentum," Holloway said. Holloway had a goal and an assist in the win, which moves the T-birds into the second round of the playoffs against the Tri-City Americans. The series begins Friday and Saturday in Kennewick.

All the penalties put a premium on goaltending, and Riku Helenius made 31 saves for the Thunderbirds.

"There were more than a couple of penalties, but luckily our guys did a good job on the penalty kill," Helenius said. "They didn't have very many great chances."

Helenius, Tampa Bay's first-round NHL draft pick who hails from Finland, said he didn't have any trouble rebounding after allowing a fluke goal in overtime in Game 6 that evened the series.

"There's not much I could do about it other than get ready for this game," Helenius said.

Holloway, the WHL player of the month for March, opened the scoring with his fourth goal of the series at 8:06 of the first period.

The T-birds made it 2-0 at 19:30 of the period on the fourth goal of the playoffs by Ian McKenzie.

Kelowna answered 24 seconds later when Brady Leavold scored.

"We could have sagged right there, but we had a good second period and then followed through in the third," Holloway said. "They outworked us a bit in Game 6, and tonight we worked hard and won those battles down low. It wasn't anything flashy, it was just hard work."

Holloway set up Seattle's third goal with a steal in the neutral zone. He drove to the goal and passed off to Lindsay Nielsen, who put it home.

Jamie Benn scored for Kelowna at 17:35 of the third period to make it 3-2, but T-bird Greg Scott scored into an empty net with 27 seconds left.

"I liked our game tonight," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said. "I thought we played hard and well and the right way."