Colby Armstrong notches first goal since joining Thunder BayThunder Bay, Ont.- The playoff-bound teams are set for the 2011 CCHL post-season. Now comes the jockeying and positioning to smooth out first round match ups in five days. For the Thunder Bay Timberwolves, that endeavour meant taking down the last place Reykjavik Puffin on Thursday.
"Ideally we'd like to get out of this sixth spot [overall ranking], knock out some wins in these last few games and position ourselves to take on lower-seeded opponents," said Timberwolves general manager, Blake Wendt. "We can't get any higher then fourth, and that's our goal to finish out this regular season."
Prior to the game against the Puffin, it was announced that Thunder Bay will be rotating off days for their players that eat up alot of ice time. For this contest, Henrik Lundqvist's view of the game would be from the bench. Leading scorer Marian Gaborik and alternate captain Patrick Sharp would be watching from the club's suite.
"It's important that we get these guys ready mentally and most of all physically for the postseason," said Wendt. "No one is 100% healthy at this time of year. But it can't hurt but help to get a game or two off, work out those kinks, get your mind focused and the view from upstairs gives you a different perspective of the game and should help you refine your own and be that much better."
With the absence of their top-two forwards, Marc Savard's tape-to-tape passes were received by Paul Kariya and Rick Nash.
Nash's first goal would come on the power play at just 1:46 from Steve Sullivan and Mike Fisher to make it 1-0 early.
Rookie centre, Matt Duchene made it 2-0 at 3:33 for the Haliburton-native's 16th from captain, Keith Ballard and Antti Miettinen.
Brandon Prust cut the Timberwolves lead in half at 6:55, but was answered and overcame at 14:16 from Colby Armstrong [pictured] and another power play tally 19:03 from Ales Hemsky to close out the first period's scoring at 4-1 for Thunder Bay.
The second period's lone Thunder Bay goal came off the stick of Ballard at 7:32 while on the power play once again from Kariya and Armstrong. Answered by Reykjavik's Chad LaRose at 10:09 to make it 5-2 through forty minutes.
Marc Savard would end up closing out the game's scoring at 18:14 in the third period and snag two points for the Timberwolves and a 6-2 win. Putting Thunder Bay over the century mark at 101 points for the first time in club history [last year peaking at 90 points].
"That's a great accomplishment for this group of guys," remarked Wendt after the game. "We've worked hard to get to this point and will continue to carry on what we're doing to keep this going and get better. Our goal to finish this season out is to end it with 107 points." Requiring wins in each of the last three games against Wisborg at CN Gardens on Saturday and at Beverly Hills on Monday and finishing the season in Bismarck, North Dakota on Tuesday.
3-STARS
*Colby Armstrong [THU] - 1 goal and an assist
**Matt Duchene [THU] - 1 goal and an assist
***Rick Nash [THU] - 1 goal and an assist
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