Rasmussen, Topping Doug Love

Tri-City extinguishes Blazers as playoff races heat up

Kennewick, Wa. Coming off an important win this past Wednesday against Seattle, the Tri-City Americans (31-21-7-1, 70pts.) were looking to build off of that against the visiting Kamloops Blazers (27-30-1-4, 59pts.). Kamloops beat the Winterhawks in Portland two nights earlier and sat just six points out of the playoffs coming into tonight’s contest. Unfortunately for the Blazers, they would get no points this night as Tri-City won their second in a row, 4-2.

The last time these two clubs met was back on January 7th in Kamloops. The lack of familiarity between these two was evident early on as both played back and forth quite a bit trying to feel each other out. Tri-City was getting their fair chances, as Kamloops was giving up a lot of time and space. When you have a goalie like Dylan Ferguson behind you, it can help cover up some of that loose style of play. Ferguson did just that, making several key saves on a lot of quality Tri-City chances through most of the first. The Americans got the lone man-advantage in the period, but the Blazers did a nice job of shutting down Tri-City’s third ranked power play. The Americans big guns were able to finally overpower Kamloops at the 16:16 mark. After making a couple of key saves in a lot of activity right in front of his net, Ferguson let a rebound get away from him. Tri-City defenseman Jake Bean, already up around the hash marks, pinched in and grabbed the loose puck and fired it right on. Initially it looked like Bean had the goal, but the puck actually deflected off of forward Michael Rasmussen’s back side and in. It was Rasmussen’s 24th of the season. The Americans kept the pressure on by taking advantage of the space Kamloops was giving them. They fired sixteen shots on net to the Blazers’ nine but Ferguson only let in the one lone goal for the period.

The second period was much of the same. Kamloops was able to come out and bring more pressure on the Americans early on, but Tri-City goalie Patrick Dea made some great saves of his own. At the other end, Ferguson had a solid period overall, but the Americans’ pressure was a bit too much at the 3:51 mark. A great shift for the Americans’ second line was marked by some great tic-tac-toe passing for an extended period. The initial Tri-City shots were met by some great saves, but Nolan Yaremko finally punched in a great cross-ice feed from defenseman Dylan Coghlan for his 19th of the season. The Americans may have been able to get more in the period if not for the fact that they found themselves down a man three different times. They killed the first two, in fact out-chancing the Blazers heavily on the second one. Rookie forward Connor Bouchard found himself surrounded by four Blazers at one point on the second Kamloops power play, but he was able to keep the puck pinned along the boards for an extended period of time which really got the crowd into it. Kamloops did find themselves on their third power play with a minute left in the middle frame, with the rest carrying over to the third. Tri-City again led the shot battle 12-9.

Parker AuCoin and Sasha Mutala
Parker AuCoin and Sasha Mutala (photo by Judy Simpson)

The third period found a lot more action for both teams. With two seconds left on the carryover penalty, Kamloops center Nick Chyzowski made a nifty move in front of Dea and backhanded his 18th of the season. With the lead cut to one, it didn’t take long for Tri-City to respond. 54 seconds after Kamloops got on the board, defenseman Juuso Välimäki put Tri-City back up by two with a wicked wrister that beat Ferguson five-hole. Kamloops refuses to go away quietly, however. With just under three minutes left in the game, the Blazers made some nifty passing plays of their own deep in the Tri-City zone that ended with forward Brodi Stuart getting a shot up and over Dea to once again pull the Blazers to within one. Tri-City would seal the deal however, with an empty-netter. With Ferguson pulled, forward Parker AuCoin and Jordan Topping found themselves in a 2-on-1. AuCoin carried the puck all the way to the circle and then fired it home into the empty-net for his 16th of the year. 4-2 would be the final. Tri-City outshot the Blazers 40-33. The Americans didn’t convert on their two man-advantages while Kamloops went 1-for-4 on the power play. Tri-City will continue its long home-stand as they host the Prince George Cougars on Saturday. Kamloops will travel to Kelowna on Saturday.

The win tonight puts the Americans now five points ahead of the Seattle Thunderbirds who currently sit in the last wild card spot. Unfortunately, all the division teams ahead of Tri-City also  won on Friday night, so the Americans weren’t able to gain any ground on them.