It took the Lethbridge Hurricanes all of 20 seconds to realize they could be in for a long night.
   Turns out it was, as the ’Canes hosted the Seattle Thunderbirds in Western Hockey League action Friday at the Enmax Centre.
Thunderbird forward Jonathan Parker scored 20 seconds after the puck drop on a goal-mouth scramble that resulted in Hurricanes netminder Linden Rowat injuring his right leg and being forced to leave the game, and while the visitors staved off a late Lethbridge attack, they were able to hit the road with a 4-3 win.
“They got a lot of energy from that first shift,” said Hurricanes associate coach Matt Kabayama. “They get the first goal and a team like that that has been struggling a little bit, they’re a little short-manned and if you can get them down quick and then kick them it makes for a long night for them. But they got a lot of energy right off the start.”
After Parker’s goal, Rowat limped to the bench and ultimately to the dressing room as backup Brandon Anderson took over.
The ’Canes drew even when Craig Orfino took a fine feed from Cam Braes and made no mistake hammering a one-time shot past Thunderbirds netminder Kyle Jarhaus to even the score at 1-1 at the 7:05 mark.
Austin Fyten drew an interference penalty to Brennan Tutt thanks to some aggressive forechecking while on the penalty kill to set up a brief four-on-four situation, but it was Seattle that took advantage of the extra real estate as Mikhail Sentyurin notched his first of the season on another frenzied scamble in the ’Canes crease for a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes.
The Thunderbirds padded their lead in the second stanza in the span of a little under two minutes.
Brendan Rouse made the Hurricanes pay for a too many men bench minor to make it 3-1 11:46 into the second and then with Lethbridge forward Mitch Maxwell cooling his heels for interference, Thunderbird forward Brad Haber took advantage of a generous bounce off the dasher behind the Hurricanes net to poke home a gimme past Anderson and pace Seattle to a 4-1 advantage.
Going back the other way, it was a clang-fest for Lethbridge with Brent Henke and Carter Ashton hitting posts and Carter Bancks rattling another shot off the crossbar.
“In the second period they kind of got energy boosters throughout,” said Kabayama. “Just when you think the momentum is going your way they get a bounce. We took some bad penalties, too. You can’t take penalties in the offensive zone, especially those stick penalties. We shot ourselves in the foot a little bit there.”
It didn’t take Lethbridge long to cut the Thunderbirds lead in half as Bancks fired a wrist shot off the right wing that found its way past Jahraus 44 seconds into the third.
The Hurricanes pulled within one with 2:52 to go as Maxwell and Ashton worked a beautiful give-and-go that Maxwell finished off to make it 4-3, but with Anderson on the bench and some furious pressure with the extra attacker, the hosts were unable to drain the equalizer.
“It wasn’t even that our penalty killing was that bad,” said Kabayama. “We got a couple bounces and things weren’t going our way. In the third period we stepped on the gas there, but it was too little too late.”
The Hurricanes are back at the Enmax Centre tonight as they host the Brandon Wheat Kings at 7 p.m.
NOTES — Kabayama said Rowat’s right leg will be assessed after the weekend.