Kennewick, Wa. Both the Tri-City Americans (22-14-5-0, 49 pts.) and the Portland Winterhawks (25-13-1-2, 53 pts.) made some moves this week at the trade deadline to build for a deep playoff run. Defenseman Jake Bean made his debut for the Americans last night to the delight of the home crowd. Bean immediately makes the Americans defensive group better. The glaring problem though is all the players that weren’t on the ice for Tri-City. Forwards Michael Rasmussen, Kyle Olson, Morgan Geekie, and defenseman Juuso Välimäki are all out for a couple of more weeks with injuries. Add rookie defenseman Roman Kalinichenko to that list. Maxwell James is serving the first game of a 3-game suspension. The different looking Americans lineup was full of rookies and recent signings. Would the new guys be able to find some chemistry?
The first period didn’t really answer that question. Portland outshot the Americans 12-8 in the opening frame, but Tri-City had the better chances. Unfortunately for the Americans, most of those chances ended with shots that didn’t hit the net, or great saves by Portland goalie Cole Kehler. The highlight of the period was a heavy weight bought between newly acquired Winterhawk forward Lukus Mackenzie and newly acquired American forward Austin King-Cunningham. Both players seemed happy to introduce themselves to the fans with the dance of the fisticuffs.
It didn’t take long in the second period for Portland to start flexing their muscles. Just forty-one seconds in, forward Kieffer Bellows fired a shot from the top of the left circle that beat Americans’ goalie Beck Warm over the shoulder. The Americans didn’t back down, however, and continued to bring the attack to the Portland end. Unfortunately, Kehler was in another zone tonight. Portland, on the other hand, was having no problem giving the Tri-City goalies fits. With just under ten minutes to play in the second, Portland was able to make it 2-0 on Alex Overhardt’s 10th of the season. At the 13:50 mark, defenseman Henri Jokiharju netted his 8th of the season to give Portland the 3-0 lead. Warm was soon after replaced in the Tri-City net by Patrick Dea. Portland outshot the Americans 21-10 and had all the momentum.
The third period was much more of the same. Portland extended its lead to 4-0 as MacKenzie picked us his first of the season in his first game since being traded to the Winterhawks. The goal came at the 4:40 mark. Four minutes later it was Bellows getting his second of the game on the power play. It was his 21st if the season. The Americans were in danger of being shut out for the second straight game until late in the third. On the power play, forward Isaac Johnson set himself up right in front of Kehler and scored a great little redirect on a pass from defenseman Dylan Coghlan. The Americans were able to shake that monkey off their back, but unfortunately it was too late to mount any meaningful comeback. Portland left the Toyota Center with the 5-1 victory. Portland held the shots on net advantage 40-29. The Americans were 1-for-5 on the power play, while Portland went 1-for-4 on the man advantage. The Winterhawks have now won three of the four meetings between the two clubs, and are three points ahead of Tri-City in the standings. The Americans will host the Prince George Cougars on Saturday while Portland will return home to host Seattle.
