Thunderbirds surge past Wings with massive fourth quarter
Feb 16, 2025
(HALIFAX, NS) February 15, 2025 -- The Halifax Thunderbirds used a seven-goal fourth quarter to push themselves to a 13-10 victory at Scotiabank Centre on Saturday night.
The pairing of Randy Staats and Clarke Petterson were excellent on the night, scoring nine and seven points, respectively. Thomas Hoggarth had a hat trick and five points while Bo Bowhunter and Jason Knox each finished with three points apiece.
Ryan Terefenko continued his strong run in transition, scoring another two goals while having an assist and eight loose balls. Jake Withers went 20 of 26 on face-offs with 17 loose balls while Graeme Hossack had 13 loose balls and a caused turnover.
Warren Hill registered his third win of the year for the Thunderbirds, as he turned away 30 shots in the victory.
Petterson kicked off the scoring on the night at the 8:41 mark, ripping a shot low to high as the Thunderbirds got their first power play of the evening. He was followed just under three minutes later by Hoggarth, who got open near the crease and used a jumping effort to bag his first goal.
Mike McCannell opened the scoring for the Wings a minute later. Mike Robinson got his first off an outside shot that found its way home from the outside before Phil Caputo capped off the first-quarter scoring for Philadelphia, making it a 3-2 game in favour of Halifax heading into the second.
The back-and-forth between the teams continued into the second, with Mitch Jones getting on the board just under five minutes into the frame with a power-play marker before Cody Jamieson answered back with one on the Thunderbirds' next man advantage -- finishing off a beautiful passing play with a back-post tap in.
McCannell added his second in transition, but Staats tallied his first goal at the 7:07 mark of the second. The teams would stay scoreless from there to end the half, sending the Thunderbirds into the room with a 5-4 advantage.
Coming out of the break, the Wings swung the momentum in their favour. Jones and Blaze Riorden scored back-to-back goals in the opening three minutes of the third. Terefenko got Halifax back to even, going coast to coast to bury his seventh goal in his last three games.
However, Michael Sowers and Jones put the Wings up 8-6 heading into the final frame.
But the Halifax offence found a spark in the fourth, going on a three-goal run to open things up. Hoggarth outwaited Nick Damude after a lengthy Thunderbirds possession to cut the deficit to one. Then, it was Petterson pulling some magic out of a hat, backing down a defender before going behind-the-back to beat Damude to knot things back up at eight.
Bowhunter got a pass from Staats and stepped into a shot to put Halifax back ahead. Petterson netted his hat trick and capped off the four-goal run with a shot off his hip past the Wings goaltender.
With a 10-8 lead, the Thunderbirds went to a five-minute power play as Ryan Wagner was assessed a game misconduct for an illegal body check.
But it was Philadelphia flipping the script shorthanded, scoring back-to-back goals to tie things back up at 10.
Staats had the answer for the hosts though. The veteran got a bouncer to go, restoring the lead, and Halifax never looked back from there. Hoggarth capped off his hat trick by finishing off a feed on top of the crease with 59 seconds left in regulation and Terefenko iced the game with an empty netter to seal the victory.
The Thunderbirds now sit at 5-4 on the season and are winners of five of their last six games. They'll look to continue their current streak on Feb 21, when they head on the road to take on the Ottawa Black Bears at Canadian Tire Centre. Face-off is set for 8:30 p.m. AT.