Spokane, Wa. The Tri-City Americans (19-10-5-0, 43 pts..) and Spokane Chiefs (20-14-1-2, 43pts.) both dropped heartbreakers last night. The Americans saw a lead slip with a minute left against Portland to lose in overtime. The Chiefs had a two goal lead against Seattle heading into the third, only to give up three goals to the Thunderbirds in the third period and lose 5-4. Both these teams are running the middle of the pack in the U.S. Divison where points are a precious commodity. In the end, the Americans would extend their point streak to six straight games, but would unfortunately drop the overtime decision to Spokane by a final of 4-3 in front of 8,113 mostly Chiefs fans in Spokane.
The Chiefs wasted no time setting the pace for this back-and-forth affair. At just :56 seconds in, Spokane forward Hudson Elynuik kept up his scoring streak by netting his 19th of the season on a pass from defenseman Ty Smith deep in the Tri-City zone. The assist was Smith’s 33rd of the season. The Chiefs are a quick team and getting too far behind early could really put the Americans on their heels. It took Tri-City just :90 seconds to find the equalizer, however, and keep pace with the Chiefs early pressure. Rookie forward Sasha Mutala, netted his third of the season over Spokane goaltender Dawson Weatherill’s left shoulder to tie the game at one apiece. Defensemen Dylan Coghlan and Roman Kalinichenko both earned assists on the goal. The Chiefs spent a lot of time in the penalty box during the opening frame and were unable to get any real offensive flow going. The Americans took advantage of that by getting the go-ahead goal at the 14:46 mark. Forward Jordan Topping scored his second goal in as many nights after a flurry of action in front of the Spokane net. Coghlan earned his second assist of the night with the primary assist going to forward Riley Sawchuk. Spokane outshot Tri-City 17-8 in the opening frame but the Americans had the 2-1 lead heading to intermission.
The second period was full of some interesting situations for both teams. Sometimes, interfering with a player on a clear breakaway is a good gamble to take. Chiefs forward Jaret Anderson-Dolan had such a breakaway shorthanded when Coghlan decided to try his luck by holding Anderson-Dolan on that short handed chance. Anderson-Dolan made the most of the chance by burying the penalty shot and tying the game. Things would go south even more for the Americans later in the period as Coghlan was given a five minute major and a game misconduct for clipping. Just under a minute into the major, Spokane took the lead on a Riley Woods shot from the point through traffic. Tri-City was able to kill off the rest of the penalty, but now trailed 3-2. However, just :15 seconds after the major had ended, Tri-City would once again tie the game on a blast from forward Morgan Geekie. Geekie has been playing some of his best hockey of the season lately and this goal couldn’t have come at a more opportune time as Spokane had all of the momentum. Spokane once again win the period in shots, 13-10, but the game was tied yet again heading to intermission.
The third period solved nothing for either teams. Spokane was unable to convert on three power play chances, and the Americans failed to convert their single man advantage in the period. Tri-City was headed to overtime for the second straight night and third time in their last four games. Unfortunately for the Americans, it would also be their second straight loss in overtime. Tri-City was unable to get any shots on net in the extra frame, while Spokane made their fourth one count. Smith netted his sixth of the season to end the contest with just under a minute left. Spokane sorely outshot Tri-City 45-24 in the game. The Americans power play, which sits at 7th in the league, was unable to convert on five chances. The Chiefs were 1-for-4 on the power play. Goaltender Beck Warm stopped 41-of-45 shots for Tri-City in the loss, while Weatherill stopped 21-of-24 for the win. Both teams will meet back in Kennewick in New Year’s Eve for the tail end of the home-and-home series.
