T-birds blow chances

The frustration among the 4,311 spectators inside KeyArena was palpable.

Ryan White and Ryan Letts each had a goal and an assist for Calgary, and the Hitmen downed the Seattle Thunderbirds 5-2 in a Western Hockey League match Saturday night.

Seattle (10-7-1-6) outshot Calgary 36-25, but mustered just two goals against the efficient Hitmen, who improve to 16-10-0-2 on year.

"We did only score two goals but there were a few that went in our goal that shouldn't have," Seattle coach Rob Sumner said, "and that takes the momentum out of our game."

Quality, not quantity, governed the game.

It took Calgary almost nine minutes to take its first shot on goal in the first period. And then with 3:12 remaining in the period, Dylan Yeo sent the puck trickling in thanks to Letts' first assist of the year.

The Hitmen got out to a 3-0 lead in the second period with an early goal by Letts and then a power-play goal by Robin Figren.

Seattle tried to regain momentum at the end of the period, when center Aaron Gagnon scored the Thunderbirds' first goal on a power play with 43 seconds left in the period.

It was the only power-play conversion of the game for the Thunderbirds, who are 3 of 32 in power plays the past four games.

Just 16 seconds after Gagnon's score, White responded for a short-handed Calgary goal on an assist from Brodie Dupont to take a 4-1 lead into the third.

"It's definitely a heartbreaker," Gagnon said. "We had the momentum there with our first goal, and I think we were just starting to roll there."

Seattle was coming off a seven-round shootout defeat against the Everett Silvertips on Friday night, but Sumner and Gagnon said it had nothing to do with the Thunderbirds' lackadaisical offense Saturday.

"Whenever you lose a game like that you're a little mad, but you've got to use that anger for the next game," Gagnon said. "We gave up too many good chances, and we didn't bear down in front of their net."

Sumner said rookie goalie Jacob DeSerres should have performed better against Calgary, especially coming off his first shutout Wednesday night against Chilliwack.

"I don't think Jake was as good as he needed to be," Sumner said. "He's coming off a great game, and he's a better goalie than he showed tonight."

Center Chris Durand narrowed Calgary's lead to 4-2 with a goal 11:28 into the third, but Hitmen center Ian Duval finished the game with his ninth goal of the season with 1:37 to play.

"We gave them too many clear chances and they capitalized on them," summed up Gagnon.